The Relationship between Workplace Stressors and Job Strain with Psychological Distress among Employed Malaysian Breast Cancer Survivors

Heng Weay Yong, Hashim Zailina, Jamil O. Zubaidah, Moin Saidi

Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.

DOI: 10.4236/jct.2012.325088                

Abstract

Evidence showed occupational factors may contribute distress to breast cancer survivors, however, very few studies focused on the occupational factors and job strain among breast cancer survivors. This study examined the relationship between job strain and workplace stressors with psychological distress among employed breast cancer survivors after the completion of their medical treatment. Study subject were outpatients of 2 hospitals and members of 4 breast cancer support groups. They were requested to fill up the Job Content Questionnaires (JCQ), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Distress Thermometer (DT) were filled up by the selected respondents. On simple logistic regression, psychological job demand and job strain were significantly associated with anxiety, distress on HADS-T and DT at (p < 0.001). While, psychological job demand (p < 0.001), social support (p = 0.047) and job strain (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with depression. Results showed survivors with high job strain has 4.74 time the odds of having anxiety (p < 0.001). Survivors with high psychological job demand have 8.08 time the odds of getting depression (p < 0.001). On the other hand, social support served as a protective factor of depression, (p = 0.041). Survivors with high psychological job demand were 4.4 time the odds of having distress (HADS-T) (p = 0.012). As a conclusion, survivors who experienced high psychological job demand, low social support and high job strain were reported with anxiety, depression or psychological distress.

Keywords

Breast Cancer Survivors; Workplace Stressors; Job Strain; Psychological Distress

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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