The Mental Health and Occupational Characteristic of Horse Stable Hand Workers in Korea

Abstract

The horse stable hand workers are one of the most important occupations in horse-racing industry. However, suicide problem of the horse stable hand workers in Korea has raised the necessity of new study on how these workers experience mental health problems such as occupational stress and depression in organizational situation. Therefore, this study investigated the occupational stress and depression level of the horse stable hand workers and identified the structural relationship in the horse-racing industry through a detailed interview. A total of 207 horse stable hand workers participated in this study, and occupational stress and depression level were surveyed using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS) and Korean version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). The results of this study showed that the occupational stress level of horse stable hand workers was higher than the median of Korean population. The significant difference in occupational stress among the detail job grade was also identified. In addition, 34% of the horse stable hand workers showed high risk of depression, and job demand, organizational system, and inappropriate compensation as the subfactors of occupational stress were showed to mainly affect depression. Although there are some limitations according to the field survey, this study also has significant meaning in that it identifies the relationship between the occupational characteristics of the horse stable hand workers and the mental health. It will be necessary to study the diverse organizational situation and individual mental health for new occupations.

A Cross‐Sectional Epidemiological Survey of Work‐Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Analysis of Its Influencing Factors among Coal Mine Workers in Xinjiang

“…The prevalence of MSDs in various positions of coal miners with severe burnout is much higher than that of coal miners affected by job burnout to a lesser degree, suggesting that there is a certain relationship between job burnout and MSDs in this population and confirming that job burnout is a risk factor for MSDs. Psychosocial factors have been reported to have a noticeable effect on MSDs [37,38], with adverse psychosocial factors shown to change human behavior and lead to the occurrence of MSDs [39] via a two-way feedback between psychosocial factors and MSDs [40]. Studies outside China have also shown that psychological factors and physical load simultaneously influence the prevalence of MSDs [41].…”

The Double-Sided Nature of Meaningful Work: Promoting and Challenging Factors within the Swedish Equine Sector

“…Work environment issues are a major concern for the industry, since it is a laborintensive sector involving long hours, a high physical workload, and low pay [16]. Despite that, research specifically on the working environment in the equine sector is limited [15]. The equine sector has not undergone the same technological development as in the agri-cultural sector, often due to factors such as economics and tradition.…”

“…Furthermore, a stable culture with masculine military norms exists in the sector [32]. In addition, Kim et al [15] showed high levels of occupational stress and problems with mental health among employees in the Korean horse racing industry related to job demand and occupational organization. Overall, the Swedish Work Environment Authority [33] has highlighted failures in the systematic work environment management in the Swedish equine sector.…”

“…However, the sector faces major challenges to recruit, above all, to retain trained and experienced staff (based on personal communication with managers in the sector), but activities that promote and maintain work meaningful are still lacking. These issues are of importance, as working with horses is demanding [15], labor-intensive [16], and hazardous [17].…”