Job Stress among Laboratory Technicians

Job strain is the harmful physical and emotional responses that can happen when there is a conflict between job demands on the employee and the amount of control an employee has over meeting these demands. Job-related depression may often be initiated by high levels of long-term job stress, failure associated with stress-related under-performance, or by life crises. Job-related depression is a clinical illness and the workers should take this seriously. This study is aimed at identifying the psychosocial characteristics of job strain and the relationship between psychosocial job factors and depression in laboratory technicians in HUSM and KKM Hospitals. Results showed that the majority of laboratory technicians in HUSM and KKM Hospitals were classified as passive. However, the proportion of high strain group was the second highest after passive group in both HUSM and KKM Hospitals. Job insecurity, physical exertion, and total psychological stressor are the significant risk factors of job strain in laboratory technicians in HUSM. However, the significant risk factors of job strain for laboratory technicians in KKM Hospitals are physical exertion and total psychological stressor.

Autorentext

Aziah Daud is a senior lecturer in the Department of Community Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Health Campus, Malaysia. She obtained her Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BSc) in 1990 and Medical Doctor (MD) in 1993 from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Master of Community Medicine (Occupational Health) from USM in 2003.