Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among the following elements: unhealthy work indicators (job stress and emotional exhaustion at work), the decision to drive (or not), and driving crashes suffered by Spanish workers. METHODS: For this cross-sectional study, a ful...

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Autores principales: Alonso, Francisco, Esteban, Cristina, Gonzalez-Marin, Adela, Alfaro, Elisa, Useche, Sergio A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6957144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31929546
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227328
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author Alonso, Francisco
Esteban, Cristina
Gonzalez-Marin, Adela
Alfaro, Elisa
Useche, Sergio A.
author_facet Alonso, Francisco
Esteban, Cristina
Gonzalez-Marin, Adela
Alfaro, Elisa
Useche, Sergio A.
author_sort Alonso, Francisco
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among the following elements: unhealthy work indicators (job stress and emotional exhaustion at work), the decision to drive (or not), and driving crashes suffered by Spanish workers. METHODS: For this cross-sectional study, a full sample of 1,200 Spanish drivers (44% women and 56% men) was used, their mean age being 42.8 years. They answered a questionnaire divided into three sections: demographic and driving-related data; burnout, job stress, and life stress; and self-reported road behaviors and driving safety indicators. RESULTS: Overall, 41.6% of drivers reported emotional exhaustion at work. Furthermore, 80.2% of the participants showing substantial signs of job stress or exhaustion had experienced one or more important stressful life events during the previous year. Job stress was associated with the number of driving crashes suffered along the last 3 years. Also, and especially in situations where drivers admit not feeling well enough to drive, job stress and emotional exhaustion seem to be independent from the decision to drive, and from perceiving these variables as potential impairers of driving performance. CONCLUSIONS: First of all, this study showed a high prevalence of job stress and emotional exhaustion symptoms experienced at work by Spanish workers. Moreover, significant relationships were found among self-rated driving performance, workplace stress and burnout indicators, which suggests that job stress and emotional exhaustion levels may, indeed, impair driving performance, but they do not influence the decision to drive or not. In other words, even when they are significantly affected by job stress or emotional exhaustion at work, most Spanish drivers still drive.
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spelling pubmed-69571442020-01-26 Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive? Alonso, Francisco Esteban, Cristina Gonzalez-Marin, Adela Alfaro, Elisa Useche, Sergio A. PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among the following elements: unhealthy work indicators (job stress and emotional exhaustion at work), the decision to drive (or not), and driving crashes suffered by Spanish workers. METHODS: For this cross-sectional study, a full sample of 1,200 Spanish drivers (44% women and 56% men) was used, their mean age being 42.8 years. They answered a questionnaire divided into three sections: demographic and driving-related data; burnout, job stress, and life stress; and self-reported road behaviors and driving safety indicators. RESULTS: Overall, 41.6% of drivers reported emotional exhaustion at work. Furthermore, 80.2% of the participants showing substantial signs of job stress or exhaustion had experienced one or more important stressful life events during the previous year. Job stress was associated with the number of driving crashes suffered along the last 3 years. Also, and especially in situations where drivers admit not feeling well enough to drive, job stress and emotional exhaustion seem to be independent from the decision to drive, and from perceiving these variables as potential impairers of driving performance. CONCLUSIONS: First of all, this study showed a high prevalence of job stress and emotional exhaustion symptoms experienced at work by Spanish workers. Moreover, significant relationships were found among self-rated driving performance, workplace stress and burnout indicators, which suggests that job stress and emotional exhaustion levels may, indeed, impair driving performance, but they do not influence the decision to drive or not. In other words, even when they are significantly affected by job stress or emotional exhaustion at work, most Spanish drivers still drive. Public Library of Science 2020-01-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6957144/ /pubmed/31929546 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227328 Text en © 2020 Alonso et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Alonso, Francisco
Esteban, Cristina
Gonzalez-Marin, Adela
Alfaro, Elisa
Useche, Sergio A.
Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?
title Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?
title_full Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?
title_fullStr Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?
title_full_unstemmed Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?
title_short Job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in Spanish workers: Does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?
title_sort job stress and emotional exhaustion at work in spanish workers: does unhealthy work affect the decision to drive?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6957144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31929546
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227328
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