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Associations of perceived indoor environmental quality with stress in the workplace
Author(s) -
Thach ThuanQuoc,
Mahirah Dhiya,
Sauter Charlotte,
Roberts Adam Charles,
Dunleavy Gerard,
Nazeha Nuraini,
Rykov Yuri,
Zhang Yichi,
Christopoulos George I.,
Soh CheeKiong,
Car Josip
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12696
Subject(s) - thermal comfort , environmental health , confounding , environmental quality , indoor air quality , logistic regression , odds , quality (philosophy) , air quality index , odds ratio , work (physics) , medicine , psychology , environmental science , environmental engineering , engineering , geography , philosophy , epistemology , mechanical engineering , pathology , meteorology , political science , law
Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a general indicator of the quality of conditions inside a building. We investigated associations of perceived IEQ including air quality, thermal comfort, noise, and light quality with stress at work and the extent to which workplace location modifies these associations. We recruited 464 full‐time workers from four companies in Singapore. Data on socio‐demographic characteristics, lifestyle/health‐related factors, and workplace factors were collected through self‐administered questionnaires. Perceived IEQ satisfaction scores of all four factors were collected using the validated OFFICAIR questionnaire. We fitted a logistic regression model to assess associations between each perceived IEQ score and stress at work, adjusting for potential confounders. The odds ratio for stress at work associated with a 1‐unit increase in perceived air quality score was 0.88 (0.82‐0.94), 0.89 (0.82‐0.97) for thermal comfort, 0.93 (0.87‐0.98) for noise, and 0.88 (0.82‐0.94) for light quality. Significant associations were found in office and control rooms for all four perceived IEQ, except for thermal comfort in office rooms. Higher satisfaction levels of perceived air quality, thermal comfort, noise, and lighting, were significantly associated with a reduction in stress at work. Our findings could potentially provide a useful tool for environmental health impact assessment for buildings.