OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AMONG HOUSE MAIDS OF KOLKATA, INDIA

Abstract

The majority of low income workers of developing countries are working in unorganised sectors and exposed to various stressful job environments called occupational stress that is evaluated in terms of occupational stress index (OSI). House maids perform varieties of household work and they globally constitute a significant percentage of unorganised sector workers. Ninety-four house maids of Kolkata, India, belonging to the age range of 20-60 years were recruited in this cross-sectional study to investigate the prevalence of OSI among them. The OSI parameters depicted the extent of excessive stress in this population while the OSI scores varied in different age groups. Correlation statistics revealed significant relationship of some of these OSI parameters with some of the other parameters. Such a high level of occupational stress may result in serious detrimental health hazards in this population. Urgent social attention is needed to attenuate this potentially high risk of physical and mental strains for sustaining health. It is high time to develop effective stress management strategies not only for reducing their mental and physical stress but also for enabling them to maintain healthy wellbeing.