Johansson - Stress at work

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Aim

: To measure psychological and physiological response to stress in the workplace.

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Method

- Quasi-experiment (naturally occuring groups)

- Workers were either in group with a high risk of stress or in a control group.

- Data was collected through urine samples and self-report of mood,

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Participants

- 24 workers at a Swedish sawmill.

- 14 workers had complex jobs; they worked at a set pace, according to the production line. They were responsible for their and their team's wages. Their job required a great deal of knowledge about raw materials. (high risk group)

The control group consisted of 10 cleaners or maintanence workers

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Design

- An independent design.

- Quasi-experiment.

- The high risk group had jobs that were repetitive, isolated and involved much more responsibility.

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Procedure

- Each participant gave a daily urine sample when they first arrived at work and then four times throughout the day. 

- Self-reports of mood, alertness and nicotine + caffiene consumption were given.

Baseline measurements were also taken at home of:

- Aldrenaline levels in urine.

- Body temperature

- Self-rating of words such as sleepiness, efficiency etc from a scale of 0 to maximal.

- Caffiene and nicotine consumption.

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Findings

1) In the first urine samples of the day, the high-risk group had aldrenaline levels twice as high as their baseline and this continued to increase throughout the day.

2) The control group had aldrenaline levels 1.5 times higher then the baseline and this decreased.

3) The high-risk group also reported feeling more irritated and rushed, having a low well-being.

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Conclusion

The repetitive work which required attention to detail and was high paced and mechanised caused the most stress in the high risk group.

Even those with less stressful jobs were more stressed at work than home - so all jobs cause some stress.

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