A study conducted between 1998-2001 on the semiconductor industry in Penang and Selangor found that irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea and stress were identified as the three leading health problems by women workers from a checklist of 16 health problems. After adjusting for confounding factors, including age, working duration in current factory, and marital status, in a multiple logistic regression model, wafer polishing workers were found to experience significantly higher odds of experiencing irregular menstruation. Dysmenorrhea was found to be significantly associated with chemical usage and poor ventilation, while stress was found to be related to poor ventilation, noise and low temperatures.
Malaysia ; *Occupational Exposure ; *Occupational Health ; *Semiconductors ; *Women, Working

According to industralization the percentage of working women wit children is on the continuous increase. There has been a growing concern over important health problem of middle-aged women, especially with working women. But we didn't know how to care of themselves yet even if it was important to find out that. So this research was an attempt to identify the nature of experience of their health management so that it is to be contributed to be knowledge development of women' health management strategy. The phenomenological approach in qualitative studies was used to serve this purpose. Subjects were 10 middle-aged working women having children is well-being state. The result of this study was as follows: "Diet pattern" was to unbalanced and irregular but they tried to correct balanced and harmony dietary life. Exercise was very simple and irregular. They have closed-minded of kinds of exercise. Controlling the environment and their minds was to obtain emotional stability and be free from stress. They put emphasis on refraining from being overtiring and watching their condition carefully. They always tried to keep the peaceful mind. Reducing fatigue was to be bathing, hot streamed-bath, finger pressure therapy, massage, singing, communication with others and maintenance of personal relationships. Identification of self-esteem was very key point to maintain their health. Working regularly gave them to please and value of the life. Work oriented life pattern was to be harm their health state so that it need to be available clinics to check up their health state after work. The rest of this study showed that it need to be social support for working women to work with comfort. Further study regarding working women engaging in the lower level is necessary.
Baths ; Child* ; Fatigue ; Female ; Fingers ; Humans ; Massage ; Singing ; Women, Working*

The aim of this study was to identify the status of health functional food consumption of working women. The 558 subjects of the study were aged between 10-60 years, and had previous experiences of consuming health functional foods. The majority of the subjects lived in Seoul, and some lived in the Gyeonggi Province . The most prevalent goals that the subjects hoped to achieve by consuming health functional foods were improvement of physical health status and reduction of exhaustion. Other goals included supplement of nutrition, and prevention or treatment of diseases. Those who were older or who possessed a high BMI spent more expenses on health functional foods, and showed a higher intake frequency as well as longer periods of consumption. Subjects placed in the older group showed a lower level of knowledge related to functional foods, which turned out to be statistically significant. Most of the respondents answered that their knowledge related to functional foods was picked up from listening to others. In conclusion, we were able to observe that groups with elder working women and high BMI show higher consumption and expense rates of health functional foods, as well as longer periods of consumption. However, they show a minimum level of knowledge related to functional foods. According to our results, these subjects should seek practical help in order to select functional foods that will aid their health, and learn the proper method of consumption. In order to reduce inaccurate consumption of health functional foods, it is imperative that more in-depth study is carried out in this field.
Aged ; Female ; Functional Food ; Humans ; Korea ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Women, Working

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea among women working in sales and call centers in Seoul, South Korea. METHODS: Working women in sales jobs and call centers in Seoul were interviewed face-to-face by well-trained interviewers. In total, 975 participants were analyzed in the final model. Emotional labor was measured using a constructed questionnaire with two components: an emotive effort component with three questions and an emotive dissonance component with five questions. To examine the association between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, chi-squared tests and logistic regression were applied. RESULTS: The prevalence of dysmenorrhea among sales workers and call center workers were 43.0% and 61.1%, respectively. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in call center workers were 1.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-3.28) and 1.72 (95% CI, 1.13-2.63), respectively. The adjusted OR of emotive effort and emotive dissonance for dysmenorrhea in sales workers were 1.71 (95% CI, 0.92-3.16) and 1.15 (95% CI, 0.67-1.98), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Emotional labor was found to be associated with dysmenorrhea in call center workers. Further studies to investigate other factors, such as management strategies and the relationship between emotional labor and dysmenorrhea, are needed to support interventions to prevent dysmenorrhea that will further promote the quality of health and life of working women.
Commerce* ; Dysmenorrhea* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Seoul ; Women, Working

OBJECTIVES: The Purpose of this study is to identify the relationships among women's job stress, coping resources, and mental health based on stress-coping model. METHODS: Forty-three female clerks working in general hospital participated in this study and filled out the Korean version of job stress inventory (K-OSI) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). To explore the relationships between job stress and mental health, a series of correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis was conducted. Also, ANOVAs were conducted to identify buffering effects of coping resources in job stress experience. RESULTS: The perceived job stress level was positively correlated with psychosomatic complaints. In addition, the psychosomatic complaints of the women were negatively correlated with their own coping resources. Among the various stress factors of the job life, specifically role insufficiency and role ambiguity has the negative effects on women's metal health. However working women's experience of depressive and anxiety symptoms was not significantly related to the job stress but to the socialsupports. Also, stress-coping model and buffering effects of coping resources were identified in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the job stress of women has negative effects on their mental health, these effects could be buffered by appropriate coping resources such as social support and self-care. In severe job stress situations, it would be better to cope with difficulties reasonably than to avoid them passively.
Anxiety ; Female* ; Hospitals, General* ; Humans ; Mental Health* ; MMPI ; Self Care ; Women, Working

PURPOSE: This study was intended to understand relevant factors by observing phenomena and characteristics of family nursing based on ICNP. METHODS: The subjects of this study were nurses and 80 reports were prepared by 680 students for the data. RESULTS: The results are as follows: The average number of the family problems the subjects were faced with was 3.5, while the majority (70%) had 3 problems. The most frequently occurred family problem was 'lack of or improper communication,' followed by 'inappropriate family coping,' 'unhealthy life style,' 'inadequate care management of sick members,' and 'wrong parental role.' Married women showed high APGAR score in the family function. The problems they were experiencing were 'lack of or improper communication,' 'inadequate care management of sick members,' and 'wrong parental role.' CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, the following is advised. First, intervention strategies are required for the women workers at medical institutions as their family problems revealed to have occurred frequently. Second, in order to alleviate family problems of married working women with various tasks and roles they play, necessary measures and concern in the aspect of industrial nursing are needed.
Apgar Score ; Family Nursing ; Female ; Humans ; Occupational Health Nursing ; Parents ; Women, Working

PURPOSE: This study was intended to understand relevant factors by observing phenomena and characteristics of family nursing based on ICNP. METHODS: The subjects of this study were nurses and 80 reports were prepared by 680 students for the data. RESULTS: The results are as follows: The average number of the family problems the subjects were faced with was 3.5, while the majority (70%) had 3 problems. The most frequently occurred family problem was 'lack of or improper communication,' followed by 'inappropriate family coping,' 'unhealthy life style,' 'inadequate care management of sick members,' and 'wrong parental role.' Married women showed high APGAR score in the family function. The problems they were experiencing were 'lack of or improper communication,' 'inadequate care management of sick members,' and 'wrong parental role.' CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, the following is advised. First, intervention strategies are required for the women workers at medical institutions as their family problems revealed to have occurred frequently. Second, in order to alleviate family problems of married working women with various tasks and roles they play, necessary measures and concern in the aspect of industrial nursing are needed.
Apgar Score ; Family Nursing ; Female ; Humans ; Occupational Health Nursing ; Parents ; Women, Working

PURPOSE: Even though a number of studies have suggested that appropriate measuring instruments of family stress for working women have to be developed, the validity and reliability of the instruments used have not been consistently examined. The purpose of the present study was to develop a sensitive instrument to measure family stress for married working women, and to test the validity and reliability of the instrument. METHOD: The items generated for this instrument were drawn from a comprehensive literature review. Twenty four items were developed through evaluation by 10 experts and twenty one items were finally confirmed through item analysis. Psychometric testing was preformed and confirmed with a convenient sample of 240 women employed in the industrial sector. RESULT: Four factors evolved by factor analysis, which explained 50.5% of the total variance. The first factor 'Cooperation' explained 28.1%, 2nd factor 'Satisfaction with relationships' 10.6%, 3rd factor 'Democratic and comfortable environment' 6.3%, and 4th factor 'Disturbance of own living' 5.5%. Cronbach's coefficient of this instrument was 0.86. CONCLUSION: The study supports the validity and reliability of the instrument.
Adult ; *Family Relations ; Female ; Humans ; *Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; Stress, Psychological/*diagnosis ; Women, Working/*psychology

PURPOSE: This study was done to compare factors predicting depressive symptoms in single and married employed women. METHODS: A comparative study using a cross-sectional survey design was used. The participants were 373 single and 355 married women. Measurements used for this study were demographic and work-related characteristics, physical conditions, self-efficacy, stressful life events, and depression. The SAS 9.1 program was used for descriptive statistics, chi2 test, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, and stepwise- multiple regression. RESULTS: Single employed women (SEW) had higher scores for stressful life events than married employed women (MEW), but there was no difference in depression between the groups. In examining the factors predicting depression, stressful life events and self-efficacy explained a portion of the variance in depression for both groups. Family monthly income and working hours were significant variables for SEW, while satisfaction with marriage and role as wife was significant for MEW. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the mental health of MEW is not worse than it is for SEW, and they do not suffer from multi-role strain. Although different variables explained depression for these women, family-related factors are especially important to MEW.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Marriage ; Mental Health ; Spouses ; Women, Working

PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the effects of abdominal meridian(Kyongrak) massage on menstrual cramps and dysmenorrhea. METHOD: Eighty-five women (of 110 screened) enrolled in this study and were employed full-time with more than 6.0 points(in 0~10.0 VAS scale) in menstrual cramps or more than 20 points on the dysmenorrhea scale(range 13~52). The forty-two participants in the experimental group received abdominal meridian massage for 5 minutes per day during 6 days from the fifth day before menstruation to the first day of menstruation and the forty-three participants in the control group didn't receive any treatment. Data were collected from June 1st to August 30th, 2003 and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi2-test, and t-test. RESULT: Menstrual cramps and dysmenorrhea of the experimental group were significantly lower after abdominal meridian massage than those of the control group (p<.001). CONCLUSION: Abdominal meridian(Kyongrak) massage was very effective for relief of menstrual cramps and dysmenorrhea. Therefore, we suggest that abdominal Kyongrak massage can be a useful nursing intervention for women with menstrual cramps or dysmenorrhea.
Women, Working ; Middle Aged ; Meridians ; *Massage/methods ; Humans ; Female ; Dysmenorrhea/*therapy ; Adult ; *Acupressure ; *Abdomen