Assessing the Relationships between Occupation Stress, Psychosocial Determinants and Work Ability in the Air Conditioning Assembly Industry

Purpose Occupational stress is one of the major phenomena that should be considered to maintain health and improve workforce productivity. The study was aimed for different task groups to determine the correlation between job stress, psychosocial factors and work ability. A cross-sectional study of 178 male workers in an air conditioning assembly factory was carried out. Three questionnaires— the work ability index (WAI), the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), and an instrument assessing workrelated stress—were used to measure work ability, psychosocial group characteristics, and job stress, respectively. The maintenance and workshop group observed the highest occupational stress score at 161.3. The WAI of office employees group was excellent, and the other two groups had low scores in a “good” range of the WAI. The highest average JCQ score was obtained by the maintenance and workshop group, with a value of 132.8 ± 3.3. Low WAI was associated with a high occupational stress score. Workers among groups with low WAI had high JCQ scores. Generally, stress among worker groups was high, and the factory management should develop a plan to improve physical workload and safety conditions among the maintenance and production groups to enhance work ability. Keywords— Occupation stress, work ability, psychosocial factors, assembly industry.