BACKGROUND: Safety climate and occupational stress are related with occupational accident. The present study tried to identify the differences in safety climate and occupational stress according to occupational accidents experience and employment type (e.g., direct workers and subcontract workers). METHODS: In this study, we conducted a survey using safety climate scale and Korean Occupational Stress Scale and classified the participants into four groups: direct workers working for accident-free departments, direct workers working for accident departments, subcontract workers working for accident-free departments, and subcontract workers working for accident departments for 2 years within the same workplace in the shipbuilding industry. RESULTS: The direct workers and subcontract workers showed diverse results in subscales of safety climate and occupational stress. This result is supported by existing studies; however, further study is necessary for more supporting evidence and elaborative methodological approach. CONCLUSION: The necessity of management for safety climate and psychosocial factor such as occupational stress for both direct workers and subcontract workers as a whole is suggested by this study.
Accidents, Occupational* ; Climate* ; Employment* ; Korea* ; Psychology

INTRODUCTIONThe care of children with cancer creates emotional and financial hardships for their families. There is a lack of information on the impact of childhood cancer on the family as a whole in Singapore. Thus, we set out to assess the financial impact as well as its psychosocial impact in our local context.

MATERIALS AND METHODSAll patients diagnosed and treated for cancer at the Departments of Paediatrics, KK Women's and Children's Hospital and National University Hospital, Singapore were eligible for this study. Families of these patients completed 2 self-administered questionnaires: (i) About-you and your-family and (ii) the Impact-On-Family scale. For the latter, the total score was obtained by the summation of all scores, where high scores correlated to high impact.

RESULTSSeventy-nine parents were enrolled during the study period from October 2008 to February 2009. Being of Malay/Indian origin was associated with a high overall family burden. On the other hand, being of Malay/Indian origin was also associated with most successful at mastery when a child was diagnosed with cancer (P = 0.001). In addition, when compared to caregivers who remained employed, those who were asked to quit their job, experienced a higher Financial Burden (P = 0.03), a high Familial/Social Burden (P = 0.05) and a high Personal Strain (P = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONChildhood cancer impacted family life in Singapore at many levels. In particular, the factors involved are various cultural discourses; employment status of caregivers; and those whose leave/pay are affected.

Adult ; Caregivers ; psychology ; Cost of Illness ; Employment ; economics ; Family ; psychology ; Family Health ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasms ; economics ; psychology ; Singapore ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Presenteeism, a concept that has recently undergone active study, is the act of attending work while sick. This study investigates the association between presenteeism and various psychosocial factors within workplaces. METHODS: This study analyzed 29246 wage earners from the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS, 2011) data using the logistic regression analysis to investigate the association between presenteeism and various psychosocial factors within workplaces. RESULTS: Among the 29246 wage earners, 6347 (21.7 %) showed presenteeism. Those who experienced age discrimination at work (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.77: 95 % CI 1.56–2.00), educational background discrimination (aOR 1.35: 95 % CI 1.22–1.51), regional discrimination (aOR 1.55: 95 % CI 1.31–1.83), sexual discrimination (aOR 1.65: 95 % CI 1.41–1.94), employment type discrimination (aOR 2.13: 95 % CI 1.89–2.40), physical violence (aOR 1.92: 95 % CI 1.45–2.55), sexual harassment (aOR 2.90: 95 % CI 2.01–4.19), job insecurity (aOR 1.36: 95 % CI 1.18–1.56), work–life imbalance (aOR 1.38: 95 % CI 1.29–1.47), low job satisfaction (aOR 2.04: 95 % CI 1.91–2.17), no colleague support (aOR 1.11: 95 % CI 1.02–1.21), job stress (aOR 1.89: 95 % CI 1.76–2.02), emotional labor (aOR 1.50: 95 % CI 1.41–1.60), high work intensity (aOR 1.31: 95 % CI 1.23–1.38), and 3 groups of job strain that are passive group (aOR 1.09: 95 % CI 1.00–1.18), active group (aOR 1.39: 95 % CI 1.28–1.51), and high strain group (aOR 1.35: 95 % CI 1.24–1.46) showed an increased risk of presenteeism compared to their respective counterparts (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The study results confirmed the association between presenteeism and various psychosocial factors within workplaces. Considering that presenteeism negatively affects productivity and the mental and physical health of individuals, managing various psychosocial factors within workplaces is proposed to reduce presenteeism.
Ageism ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Efficiency ; Employment ; Job Satisfaction ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Physical Abuse ; Presenteeism* ; Psychology* ; Salaries and Fringe Benefits ; Sexual Harassment

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the degree of job stress for workers with mentally disabled and factors influencing their job stress. METHODS: The participants in this study were employees with mental disabilities employed in job programs sponsored by community mental health centers and social rehabilitation centers. For this study, researchers conducted a survey with structured questionnaires with 221 employees. Data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis with SPSS/WIN 14.0. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in job stress according to general characters. However, there were significant differences in job stress according to type of employment and monthly-income. Multi-regression analysis showed that type of employment and social support affected job stress. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that following should be emphasized: conditions of employment such as type of employment and social support should be improved to decrease job stress and help the employee to remain in the job.
Community Mental Health Centers ; Employment ; Humans ; Mentally Disabled Persons* ; Power (Psychology) ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Rehabilitation Centers

OBJECTIVE: There have been few long-term studies that have assessed factors influencing treatment discontinuation and long-term outcome of schizophrenia in Korea. The present study aimed to evaluate factors affecting treatment discontinuation and treatment outcome, after 10 years, in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Among hospitalized patients between 1997 and 1999, 191 patients were given continuous follow-up service. We examined the clinical characteristics and outcome of patients who remained in treatment. Regression analyses were used to find any clinical factors affecting treatment discontinuation. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-three patients (71.12%) discontinued the treatment. The treatment retention group contained more female patients, paranoid-type patients, patients who had shown self-harming behavior, patients receiving clozapine, and patients with good medication compliance. The recovery rate was 25%. However, 42.3% did not have gainful employment. Further, most patients couldn't live independently. CONCLUSION: The results show the importance of gender, patient behavior, medication, and medication compliance in predicting treatment discontinuation in patients with schizophrenia.
Clozapine ; Employment ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Medication Adherence ; Retention (Psychology) ; Schizophrenia ; Treatment Outcome

In this study, the soy food intake behaviors including perception and intake frequency of soybean foods by sociodemographic variables were analyzed in housewives. The perception of housewives for soy foods showed that soybean paste, soybean curd, and Dambuk were high in the descending order for nutritional quality and health promotion effect, and soybean paste received the highest score in taste and flavor. Soybean sprouts received the highest evaluation score in the economic aspect. In the aspect of safe food, soybean paste received the highest evaluation score, as mush as a traditional food. The analysis of perception by sociodemographic variables showed that soybean curd, Dambuk, and soybean sprouts had higher perceptions as education level increased, and soy milk had higher perceptions in subjects with younger age and with employment. In the intake frequency, more than 50% of the subjects had soybean curd, soybean sprouts, and soybean paste more than once a week. The analysis for correlation between the intake frequency of soy foods and the degree of perception showed that taste and flavor had high correlation with the intake frequency of soy foods except soybean sprouts. The intake frequency of soybean paste, Dambuk, and soy milk had positive correlations to familiarity and that of soy milk had positive correlations to nutrition and health perception, and those of soybeam paste, soybean sprouts, and soy milk had positive correlations to safe food perception. From the above results, housewives in Korea had very high perceptions to nutritional quality and health promotion effect of soy foods and the degree of perception and accompanied intake frequency had significant differences by age, education level, and economic level among sociodemographic variables.
Employment ; Health Promotion ; Korea ; Nutritive Value ; Recognition (Psychology) ; Soy Foods ; Soy Milk ; Soybeans

BACKGROUND: Around the globe, discrimination has emerged as a social issue requiring serious consideration. From the perspective of public health, the impact of discrimination on the health of affected individuals is a subject of great importance. On the other hand, subjective well-being is a key indicator of an individual's physical, mental, and social health. The present study aims to analyze the relationship between Korean employed workers' subjective health and their exposure to perceived discrimination. METHODS: The Fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS, 2014) was conducted on a representative sample of the economically active population aged 15 years or older, who were either employees or self-employed at the time of interview. After removing inconsistent data, 32,984 employed workers were examined in this study. The data included general and occupational characteristics, perceived discrimination, and well-being. Well-being was measured through the WHO-Five index (1998 version). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between perceived discrimination and well-being. RESULT: As a group, employed workers who were exposed to discrimination had a significantly higher likelihood of “poor well-being” than their counterparts who were not exposed to discrimination. More specifically, the workers exposed to age discrimination had an odds ratio(OR) of 1.51 (95% CI: 1.36–1.68), workers exposed to discrimination based on educational attainment had an OR of 1.43 (95% CI: 1.26–1.61), and workers exposed to discrimination based on employment type had an OR of 1.68 (95% CI: 1.48–1.91) with respect to poor well-being. Furthermore, workers exposed to a greater number of discriminatory incidents were also at a higher risk of “poor well-being” than their counterparts who were exposed to fewer such incidents. More specifically, the workers with three exposures to discrimination had an OR of 2.60 (95% CI: 1.92–3.53), the workers with two such exposures had an OR of 1.69 (95% CI: 1.44–1.99), and the workers with one such exposure had an OR of 1.32 (95% CI: 1.20–1.45). CONCLUSION: The present study found that discrimination based on age, educational attainment, or employment type put workers at a higher risk of “poor well-being,” and that the greater the exposure to discrimination, the higher the risk of poor well-being.
Ageism ; Diagnostic Self Evaluation ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Employment ; Hand ; Logistic Models ; Public Health

BACKGROUND: Discrimination based on type of employment against non-regular workers is still a social issue. However, there are few studies on job factors that affect the discrimination experience in each type of employment or the association between discrimination and health impact indicators. This study examined occupational health characteristics according to discrimination experience and relating factors that affect discrimination experience. METHODS: This study used the 4th Korean Working Conditions Survey (2014) provided by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. Among the 50,000 workers, 7731 non-regular wage workers were selected as study population. To examine differences in discrimination experience, we used a t-test on occupational risk factors, occupational stress, occupational characteristics, health impact indicators. To identify the factors that affected discrimination experience, we performed binomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The discrimination experience rate was significantly higher in male, aged less than 40 years old, above high school graduate than middle school graduate, higher wage level, shorter employment period and larger company's scale. As factors related to discrimination experience, they experienced discrimination more as occupational stress was higher and when they were temporary or daily workers rather than permanent workers, work patterns were not consistent, and the support of boss was low. It showed that physical, musculoskeletal, and mental occupational risk scores and subjective job instability were higher and work environment satisfaction was lower in discrimination experienced group. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that the demographic and occupational factors were complexly related to discrimination experience in non-regular workers. The experience of discrimination had increased when occupational stress was higher, they were temporary or daily workers rather than permanent workers, work patterns were not consistent, and their boss' support was low. Improving various relating factors, (e.g. occupational stresses, employment status and occupational characteristics), this would ultimately expect to improve non-regular workers' discrimination.
Discrimination (Psychology)* ; Employment ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Occupational Health ; Risk Factors ; Salaries and Fringe Benefits

BACKGROUND: Recently, many studies have reported that university students have been suffering from stress because of their the uncertainty of their future and employment. Eating habits have often been considered as one of health-related behaviors that may be affected by life stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between stress and eating habits in university students. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was designed. The subjects were 282 university students which assessed their eating habits and stresses. The total numbs of students in the study 263. Eating habits were scored using a questionnaire consisting of three categories-regularity, balance, and preference. The stress was assessed by modified Korean version of BEPSI. RESULTS: The stress score was 2.4 and the total score of eating habits was 44.2. The regularity among the domains of eating habits was 14.1, the balance score was 16.1, and the preference was 14.0. In multiple regression after adjustment with confounding variables, stress had a negative relationship with eating habits. CONCLUSION: The relationship between stress and eating habits was statistically significant, especially in regularity and balance. It is important to know not only the health status, but also the factors associated with health such as stresses and eating habits in order to improve the health status of the university students. Further research needs to uncover causality and make a generalization.
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology) ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Eating* ; Employment ; Generalization (Psychology) ; Humans ; Stress, Psychological ; Uncertainty ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The study was done to investigate male nurses' gender discrimination, person-organization fit, organization leader-member exchange, career plateau and retention intention and to identify factors affecting nurses' retention intention for these nurses. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using self-report questionnaires. The participants were 144 male nurses working in hospitals and other health care facilities in Korea. Data were analyzed using hierarchial regression. RESULTS: The mean score was 5.40±1.61 (out of 8) for retention intention. Factors influencing retention intention were ‘married’ (β=.27, p<.001) and ‘employment career (3~5 yr)’ (β=-.24, p=.003) in model 1, ‘person-organization fit’ (β=.42, p<.001) in model 2, ‘content plateau’ (β=-.19, p=.020) in model 3. Person-organization fit was the most significant factor followed by content plateau, employment career and married state in that order. These factors explained 33.2% of the variance in retention intention (F=17.23, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that it is necessary to confirm that the male nurses are suitable for their organization and improve career development at 3~5 years of work experience as a retention strategy of male nurses.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Employment ; Humans ; Intention* ; Korea* ; Male* ; Nurses, Male*