Job stressors in naval personnel serving on ships and in personnel serving ashore over a twelve month period

Studying the Health and Performance of Shipboard Sailors: An Evidence Map

INTRODUCTION

It is estimated that sailors who are assigned to surface ships and submarines are deployed for more than 1 year across their careers and they spend 15% to 23% of their time away from home. Research suggests that shipboard sailors experience rates of behavioral health issues similar to those with ground combat experiences. Despite the rigorous operational tempo and the unique shipboard environment experienced by these service members, little military health research has examined the health outcomes of sailors serving aboard ships. The objectives of this study were to develop an evidence map of the peer-reviewed literature to (1) identify potential threats to the health and readiness of shipboard sailors, (2) identify health and performance issues experienced by this population, and (3) identify gaps in the current peer-reviewed published literature on shipboard health and performance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A systematic review of the existing peer-reviewed literature pertaining to the health, experiences, and performance of shipboard service members was conducted. Comprehensive search terms were used to identify articles published between January 2000 and April 2018. Identified articles were subject to a two-level review process. Study characteristics for all articles selected for final review were extracted, and articles were categorized into 13 content areas that were selected a priori. Findings are presented in an evidence map.

RESULTS

The initial literature search yielded 8,858 unique articles, 90 of which were eligible for full review. Most articles primarily examined active duty sailors from the U.S. or other foreign militaries (88.9%). A total of 60 articles (67.8%) included information about the type of ship studied; the most frequently examined were submarines (29.5%) and aircraft carriers (27.9%). Most of the included studies used cross-sectional (63.3%) or longitudinal (24.4%) designs. Only 7.8% (n = 7) of articles described interventions. The most commonly examined focal areas included physical health issues, such as viral infections and injuries (56.7%), and health behaviors, such as substance use/misuse (40.0%). Other frequently addressed content areas were occupational stress (38.9%), interpersonal issues (32.2%), ship conditions (30.0%), and mental health (28.9%). Most articles (73.3%) addressed more than one content area. There was a high degree of variation in the measurement tools used; self-report surveys were the most common (48.9%), followed by objective physical, biological, or cognitive measures (32.2%) and medical and personnel record reviews (31.1%).

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence map identified various gaps in the research pertaining to the health and performance of shipboard sailors. These gaps included a lack of research on the risk factors for common health and performance issues experienced by sailors and on the relationship between stressors of shipboard life and sailors' health, performance, and readiness. The results of this evidence map should be used to inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to improve the shipboard environment and/or the preventive health behaviors used by sailors while underway or deployed.

Measurement and Modeling of Job Stress of Electric Overhead Traveling Crane Operators

Background

In this study, the measurement of job stress of electric overhead traveling crane operators and quantification of the effects of operator and workplace characteristics on job stress were assessed.

Methods

Job stress was measured on five subscales: employee empowerment, role overload, role ambiguity, rule violation, and job hazard. The characteristics of the operators that were studied were age, experience, body weight, and body height. The workplace characteristics considered were hours of exposure, cabin type, cabin feature, and crane height. The proposed methodology included administration of a questionnaire survey to 76 electric overhead traveling crane operators followed by analysis using analysis of variance and a classification and regression tree.

Results

The key findings were: (1) the five subscales can be used to measure job stress; (2) employee empowerment was the most significant factor followed by the role overload; (3) workplace characteristics contributed more towards job stress than operator's characteristics; and (4) of the workplace characteristics, crane height was the major contributor.

Conclusion

The issues related to crane height and cabin feature can be fixed by providing engineering or foolproof solutions than relying on interventions related to the demographic factors.

A four-year follow-up study of physical working conditions and perceived mental and physical strain among food industry workers

This study hypothesized that in a longitudinal setting deteriorating physical working conditions increases the perceived physical and mental strain among food processing employees. The study was conducted in 2003 and 2007. It examined 248 blue-collar workers, all of whom were in the same occupation throughout the entire follow-up period. The data were obtained through a structural questionnaire distributed to the employees at the workplace. Mental strain had increased (7%) significantly among younger employees during the follow-up. The changes in mental strain for the younger employees were positively associated with the changes in physical strain. The changes in physical strain were also significantly associated with the changes in physical working conditions among both younger and the older workers. The results of this study partly support the study hypothesis, namely that deteriorating physical working condition increases physical strain and also increases mental strain, especially among younger employees.

Cognitive task demands, self-control demands and the mental well-being of office workers

The cognitive task demands of office workers and the self-control demands of their work roles were measured in a sample of 196 employees in two different office layouts using a self-report questionnaire, which was circulated electronically. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that both factors were associated with mental well-being, but not with physical well-being, while controlling for exposure to psychosocial stressors. The interaction between cognitive task demands and self-control demands had the strongest association with mental well-being, suggesting that the deleterious effect of one was greater when the other was present. An exploratory analysis revealed that the association was stronger for employees working in a large open-plan office than for those working in smaller offices with more privacy. Frustration of work goals was the cognitive task demand having the strongest negative impact on mental well-being. Methodological limitations and scale psychometrics (particularly the use of the NASA Task Load Index) are discussed. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Modern office work has high mental demands and low physical demands and there is a need to design offices to prevent adverse psychological reactions. It is shown that cognitive task demands interact with self-control demands to degrade mental well-being. The association was stronger in an open-plan office.