Association between job stress and dietary pattern in public health professionals

Health staff spends much of their time at work place and experience devastating psychological conditions like job stress. Job stress decreases organizational efficiency and also exposes staffs to physical and mental disorders. It is doubtful whether food habits can affect job stress. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association between food guide recommendations and work strain. Women working in public health centers (PHCs) entered the study (n=۱۲۱). Anthropometric measures were collected by a nutritionist. A self-administered food questionnaire was fulfilled to collect dietary data. Dietary intakes were ranked based on “Food Guide Pyramid” and job strain was determined using “Karasek model”. More than half of participants demonstrated high level of stress (۵۴.۴%). The most prevalent job stressors were lack of sufficient rest time (۵۰.۹%), boring job (۵۷.۱%), and psychological pressure (۶۴.۴%). There was no association between food groups and job stress levels, but vegetables, meats and substitutes, and fats were positively correlated with some aspects of stress (p<۰.۰۵). Consumption of dairy, vegetables, and cereals was lower than recommendations. About one-third of staff had a sedentary lifestyle and ۴۴.۶% were obese or overweight. In spite of lack of association between food recommendations and job stress, some foods may have slight links with it. Altering health risk factors like inactivity, inappropriate food habits and overweight along with more acknowledgement and rewards would increase staff’s quality of life. More investigations in this field are highly recommended

کلیدواژه ها:

Dietary pattern ، Food pyramid ، Job stress ، Public health professionals.