Health behaviors and occupational stress of Brazilian civil servants living in an urban center12. Issue 1 (6th January 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goston, Janaina Lavalli; Caiaffa, Waleska Teixeira; de Souza Andrade, Amanda Cristina; Vlahov, David; Claudio, Luz; Robins, Thomas
• Is Part Of: American journal of industrial medicine. Volume 56:Issue 1(2013:Jan.)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 57
• Publication Date: 2012-01-06
• Subjects: Medicine, Industrial -- Periodicals; Médecine du travail -- Périodiques; 616.9803
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.22004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0271-3586

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="abs1-1" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Occupational stress and unhealthy lifestyles are common characteristics of urban workers. The association between health behaviors and job stress of urban Brazilian civil servants was studied.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs1-2" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>A cross‐sectional study included 893 workers. Health markers, the dependent variables, were: Fruit/vegetable (FV) and alcohol (A) intake, physical activity (PA), including at work (PAW), smoking (S), BMI ≥ 25 Kg/m<sup>2</sup>. Occupational stress, assessed by <italic>Job Stress Scale‐Brazilian version, </italic> classified employees into: <italic>High‐strain</italic>, <italic>Low‐strain</italic>, <italic>Active</italic>, and <italic>Passive.</italic> Prevalence rates and multivariate Poisson models were adopted.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs1-3" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>On average, employees (mean age = 40.2 years; 69.1% female) reported healthy lifestyle factors: FV (56%); PA (59.7%); S (13.3%); however, 49.4% were overweight. Compared to low‐strain, high‐strain workers reported higher PAW; passive workers lesser PA and higher PAW. After adjusting for socio‐demographics and work characteristics, the occupational stress dimensions were no longer associated to health behaviors.</p> </sec> <sec id="abs1-4" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Our results do not support the hypothesis of an effect for occupational stress on urban employees' health behaviors. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:49–57, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.</p> </sec> </abstract>