Study the epidemiological profile of taxi drivers in the background of occupational environment, stress and personality characteristics

BACKGROUND: Work hazards have been a major cause of concern in driving industry especially in taxi drivers. This study integrates the various factors that influence physical and emotional well-being of taxi drivers into the theoretical model that shows that the work environment, stress and personality characteristics directly influence taxi drivers’ health. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the following study is to study the relative and combined influence of work environment, personality characteristics and stress on the health of taxi drivers. METERIALS AND METHODS: The present study is cross-sectional (descriptive) study taxi drivers in Mumbai. They are selected using multistage random sampling method. Calculated sample size is 508. Data produced after the survey is analyzed using IBM SPSS 16.0 software. RESULTS: Nearly 65% of taxi drivers belonged to middle-age group of 21-40 years of age. Majority (59%) of taxi drivers belonged to the lower upper socio-economic class. 70% of taxi drivers worked for more than 8 h daily. 63% gave the history of one or more addictions. 52% taxi drivers had type B1 personality, only 6% had stress prone and aggressive type A1 personality. Traffic congestion (67.1%) was reported as the leading stressor followed by narrow bottle neck roads (43%), too many speed breakers (41%), rude gestures and behavior by other drivers (42%) and bad weather (36%). Nearly 86% taxi drivers had one or more symptoms of morbidities. Gastrointestinal symptoms predominated followed by musculoskeletal symptoms and depression. CONCLUSION: Socio-demographic attributes, work environment, stress and personality significantly influence physical and psychological morbidities in taxi drivers.