The Association between Occupational Stress and Health Behaviors in a Hospital Employee

Purpose of this study is to evaluate association of job characteristics or occupational stress with health behavior in hospital employees. Total 687 employees were recruited from a university hospital in Korea and completed a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire includes demographic factors (age, marriage) and job characteristics such as job type, job position, shift work, type of employment. Perceived stress and occupational stress assessed by Korean Occupational Stress Scale were also measured. Outcome variables was bad health behavior such as current smoking, problem drinking, no exercise and insufficient sleep. Multivariate analyses were conducted separately in male and female because of different health behaviors by sex. In male, there was association between insufficient sleep and occupational stress, total score and subscales like job demand, organizational system, and occupational climate. In female, it was observed an association between insufficient sleep and job demand. Irregular exercise was associated with insufficient job control, job insecurity in female. Problem drinking was associated with shift worker. Insufficient sleep was related with stress perception. In conclusion, there are an association between occupational stress and health behavior in hospital employees. (Korean J Stress Res 2016;24:95∼102)