Moderators of occupational pressure in female health professionals—Individual differences and coping skills

Abstract

Individual differences and coping skills have influential impacts on stress process by influencing the eventual outcomes of the stressors, contributing to either wellbeing, or illness and negative experiences. The aim of this paper is to explore the individual differences and coping strategies of a cohort of women with health professionals’ occupational pressure. This is a cross-sectional survey, informed by the transactional model of stress and coping framework, and carried out on women health professionals (n = 203) from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. Multiple regressions were conducted to examine the potential moderators of stress. Women Health Professionals reported stress with six out of eight organizational sources of pressure, with relationship being a key stressor. Their individual differences (mean + SD) were characterised by low drive (7.6 + 1.9-8.2 + 2.0), low personal influence (10.8 + 2.0 to 11.7 + 2.3), moderate control (13.4 + 3.4 to 16.3 + 2.4), and high impatience behaviour (19.1 + 3.8 to 20.4 + 3.3). With Coping strategy, the Life-work-balance coping is a significant positive predictor for five out of the nine outcomes of occupational pressure [state of mind (p < 0.001), level of resilience (p = 0.01), level of confidence (p = 0.003), physical symptoms (p = 0.001) and energy level (p < 0.001)]. The findings show relationship as a key stressor, with a less favourable pattern of individual-differences and an over-reliance on lifework balance coping. Female health professionals, stressed at work, have an undesirable profile of individual difference and a coping strategies, suggestive of attempts to balance the demands of their dual work role. The increasing female into the workforce, warrants more research to inform stress management guideline to ameliorate stress amongst those vulnerable workers. Future studies to examine individual differences of these female-dominated professions across health setting are needed to better inform the pressure-at-work issues for the increasing Asian women health professionals.

Share and Cite:

Loh, SY and Quek, KF (2013) Moderators of occupational pressure in female health professionals—Individual differences and coping skills. Health, 5, 1659-1666. doi: 10.4236/health.2013.510224.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Vaez, M., Rylander, G., Nygren, A., Asberg, M. and Alexanderson, K. (2007) Sickness absence and disability pension in a cohort of employees initially on long-term sick leave due to psychiatric disorders in Sweden. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 42, 381-388.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0189-9
[2] Tennant, C. (2001) Work-related stress and depressive disorders. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 51, 697-704. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3999(01)00255-0
[3] Bartolomucci, A. and Leopardi, R. (2009) Stress and depression: Preclinical research and clinical implications. PLoS ONE, 4, e4265.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0004265
[4] WHO (2005) Preventing chronic diseases: A vital investment. World Health Organisation, Geneva.
http://www.who.int/chp/chronic_disease_report/full_report.pdf;
[5] Mathers, C. and Loncar, D. (2006) Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Medicine, 3, 2011-2030.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030442
[6] Lu, L., Cooper, C., Kao, S. and Zhou, Y. (2003) Work stress, control beliefs and well-being in Greater China— An exploration of sub-cultural differences between the PRC and Taiwan. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18, 479-510. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02683940310494359
[7] Limm, H., Angerer, P., Heinmueller, M., Marten-Mittag, B., Nater, U. and Guendel, H. (2010) Self-perceived stress reactivity is an indicator of psychosocial impairment at the workplace. BMC Public Health, 10, 252.
[8] Lazarus, R.S. and Cohen, J.B. (1977) Environmental stress. Plenum, New York.
[9] Fotinatos-Ventouratos, R. and Cooper, C. (2005) The role of gender and social class in work stress. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20, 14-23.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02683940510571612
[10] Rydmark, I., Wahlberg, K., Ghatan, P., Modell, S., Nygren, A., et al. (2006) Neuroendocrine, cognitive and structural imaging characteristics of women on longterm sickleave with job stress-induced depression. Biological Psychiatry, 60, 867-873.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.04.029
[11] Comish, R., Daboval, J. and Swindle, B. (1994) Managing stress in the workplace. The National Public Accountant, 39, 24-27.
[12] William, S. and Cooper, C. (1998) Measuring occupational pressure: Development of the pressure management indicator. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3, 306-321. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.3.4.306
[13] Loh, S.Y. (2004) Reliability and validity of the pressure management inventory in a Malaysian population. Medical Journal Malaysia, 59, 199.
[14] Singh, S. (1999) Women power rising in civil service. New Straits Time, Malaysia. NST Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1.
[15] Keinan, G. and Melamed, S. (1987) Personality characteristics and proneness to burnout: A study among internists. Stress Medicine, 3, 307-315.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smi.2460030412
[16] Roseman, R. (1978) The interview method of assessment of the coronary-prone behavior pattern. Springer-Verlag, New York.
[17] Lazarus, R. (1993) Coping theory and research: Past, present, and future. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 234-247.
[18] Lazarus, R. (2000) Toward better research on stress and coping. American Psychologist, 55, 665-673.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.6.665
[19] Glanz, K., Rimer, B. and Sharyn, S. (2005) Theory at a glance: A guide for health promotion practice. 2nd Edition, United States National Cancer Institute, New York.
[20] Glanz, K., Rimer, B. and Lewis, F. (2002) Health behavior and health education. Theory, research and practice. Wiley & Sons, San Fransisco.
[21] Bolger, N. (1990) Coping as a personality process: A prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 525-537.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.59.3.525
[22] Mattlin, J., Wethington, E. and Kessler, R.C. (1990) Situational determinants of coping and coping effectiveness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 31, 103-122.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2137048
[23] Taylor, S.E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B.P., Gruenewald, T.L., Gurung, R. and Updegraff, J. (2000) Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107, 411-429.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.3.411
[24] Greenglass, E. (2002) Work stress, coping and social support: Implications for women’s occupational well-being. APA, Washington DC, 85-96.
[25] Pengilly, J. and Dowd, E. (2000) Hardiness and social support as moderators of stress. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56, 813-820
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4679(200006)56:6<813::AID-JCLP10>3.0.CO;2-Q
[26] Taylor, S., Klein, L., Lewis, B., Gruenewald, T., Gurung, R. and Updegraff, J. (2000) Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107, 441-429
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.3.411
[27] Taylor, S., Klein, L., Lewis, B., Gruenewald, T., Gurung, R. and Updegraff, J. (2002) Sex differences in biobehavioral responses to threat: Reply to Geary and Flinn. Psychological Review, 109, 751-753.
[28] Karasek, R. (1990) Lower health risk with increased job control among white collar workers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 11, 171-185.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/job.4030110302
[29] Karasek, R. (1979) Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 129-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2392498
[30] Loh, S.Y. (2004) Reliability and validity of the pressure management inventory in a Malaysian population. Medical Journal of Malaysia, 59, 199-206.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.