Prevalence of stress level among Bank employees in urban Puducherry, India

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Stress is an important health area of concern among bank employees. The study aims to assess the stress level and its associated factors among bank employees. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 192 bank employees in urban Puducherry, India. Stress level was assessed by Cohen's Perceived Stress scale and classified into low (0-11), average (12-15), high (16-20), and very high (21 and above) based on the stress scores. Collected data were analyzed by using univariate analysis. RESULTS: Majority of them had high and very high level of stress (75.5%, confidence interval: 69.4-81.6%). The variables that include age group, sex, category of work, smoking and alcohol use were not found to be significantly associated with the stress level (P > 0.05). With respect to question items, handling personal problems and things were going their way were answered as fairly often and very often by the majority of the subjects. CONCLUSION: Stress level among bank employees is high, which necessitates intervention measures for this vulnerable group.