WORK STRESS AND WELL-BEING IN ELECTRONICS WORKERS IN TAIWAN:

ISEE-401 Purpose: Electronics industries are rapidly growing in Taiwan. Different from traditional industries in work pattern, exposure and health concerns, evaluation for occupational health issues for electronics workers is important. Occupational stress for electronics workers in Taiwan was studied, including work stressors, and their effects on stress levels and job satisfaction with representative workers in Taiwan. Methods: A cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire was given to the electronics workers during their annual physical examination period in 2001 by 1669 female workers from three electronics industries in Taiwan. Perceived work stress was inquired, and Karasek's job content questionnaire (JCQ) was used to estimate job control (skill discretion and decision authority), psychological demand, and reported frequency of feeling stressed. General health status, vitality, and mental health were evaluated by the International Quality of Life Assessment Short From-36 (IQOLA SF-36). Results: A total of 1,669 electronics workers participated in this study, with average age of 27.2 years. Most of these workers had high school education (67.5%), and worked as assemblers (65.6%). Compared to the JCQ results in 5,986 female workers in national workers survey in Taiwan in 2001, this group of workers had lower scores in skill discretion (28.6+4.5 vs. 30.5+5.0, p<0.0001) and decision authority (29.6+5.8 vs. 31.3+6.1, p<0.0001), thus lower scores in job control (58.3+8.7 vs. 61.8+9.9, p<0.0001). The electronics workers also had higher score in psychological demand (34.1+4.3 vs. 30.8+3.7, p<0.0001). A total of 27.5% of electronics workers complained of feeling stressed all the time or frequently, as compared to 13.3% from the national workers survey. Among electronics workers, mental health scores and vitality scores in SF-36 were negatively associated with psychological demand. Number of sick days in one year was positively associated with psychological demand. Neck-shoulder pain was associated with lower job control. Conclusion: Female workers in electronics industries had lower job control and higher psychological demand as compared with the female workers from the national survey. Higher percentage of electronics workers reported feeling stressed frequently than the average female workers in Taiwan. High demand and low control in female electronics workers were associated with poorer physical wellbeing in these workers. Strategy should be developed to reduce psychological demand and increase job control in these workers.