Associations of fatigue to work-related stress, mental and physical health in an employed community sample

Abstract

BackgroundWhile work-related fatigue has become an issue of concern among European employees, the relationship between fatigue, depression and work-related stressors is far from clear. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the associations of fatigue with work-related stressors, severe medical disease, health behavior and depression in the working population and (2) to determine the unique impact of work-related stressors on fatigue.MethodsWe used cross-sectional data of N = 7,930 working participants enrolled in the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) from 2007 to 2012 filled out the Personal Burnout Scale (PBS) of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), the PHQ-9, and a list of work-related stressors.ResultsA total of 27.5% reported increased fatigue, esp. women, younger persons with a lower social status and income, smokers, severely medically ill, previously and currently depressed participants. Fatigue was consistently associated with severe medical disease, health behavior and depression, which need to be taken into account as potential confounders when analyzing its relationship to work-related strains. Depression was consistently associated with work-related stressors. However, after statistically partialling out depression, fatigue was still significantly associated with work-related stress.ConclusionsFatigue as an indicator of allostatic load is consistently associated with work-related stressors such as work overload after controlling for depression. The brief Personal Burn-out Scale is suitable for assessing work-related fatigue in the general population.

Psychosocial correlates of work‐related fatigue among Jordanian emergency department nurses

“…Work‐related fatigue is one of the most common phenomena among shift workers, particularly nurses. It is defined as a mental or physical exhaustion that stops a person from being able to function normally as a result of prolonged periods of physical and/or mental exertion without enough time to rest and recover …”

“…Work‐related fatigue can be classified into three distinct types: acute fatigue, chronic fatigue, and inter‐shift (recovery) fatigue . Yet, acute and chronic work‐related fatigue overlaps …”

“…Work‐related fatigue is multidimensional in both its manifestations and causes. To illustrate, the literature reported that the etiology of work‐related fatigue is associated with various physiological and psychological difficulties …”

“…It is defined as a mental or physical exhaustion that stops a person from being able to function normally as a result of prolonged periods of physical and/or mental exertion without enough time to rest and recover. 1,2 Work-related fatigue can be classified into three distinct types: acute fatigue, chronic fatigue, and inter-shift (recovery) fatigue. 3 Yet, acute and chronic work-related fatigue overlaps.…”

Ambiente de trabajo: Una evaluación de riesgos psicosociales y carga de trabajo mental en agentes de tránsito

“…A partir de entonces, el instrumento fue adaptado a otras culturas en sus diferentes versiones [13][14][15] , y el consiguiente desarrollo de un cuerpo teórico que corroboró con la literatura preexistente 16 .…”