• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.66-73
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• 2020

The change in labor consciousness began to draw social attention to work-life balance (WLB). The WLB is one of the major factors affecting the health and safety problems of workers. Although shiftwork adversely affects WLB, safety, and health problems of workers, WLB of shift workers has received little empirical attention. The purpose of this study was to examine whether WLB mediates the relationship between shiftwork and shift worker's safety and health problems, participation in leisure activities moderates WLB, and finally, whether WLB moderated by participation in leisure activities mediates the relationship between shift work and shift worker's safety and health problems. For the study, the data of the 5^th wave of Korean Working Condition Survey(KWCS) conducted by Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency(KOSHA) of South Korea was used. Conditional process analysis revealed that the relationship between shift work and worker's safety and health problems is mediated by WLB; however, participation in leisure activity showed no moderation effect on WLB. Therefore, the moderated mediation effect has failed to achieve statistical significance. The results indicate that working environment improvement in consideration of the WLB is needed to gain shift worker's long-term safety and health. The implications of this study and suggestions for future research were discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2015

Working the night-shift and long working hours may be linked to insomnia. The purpose of this study is to determine the association between night-shift work and long working-hours with regard to subjective insomnia in Korean workers. This study was based on the Third Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS) conducted on workers in 2011. The total number of individuals included in the analysis was 34,708 workers. Adjusted odd ratios showed statistically effective associations to insomnia. For night-shift work, the results were 2.71 (1.53 - 4.82) for night shift work by experts and managers, 2.95 (2.11 - 4.11) for night-shift work by officers, and 3.90 (2.05 - 7.42) for night-shift work by engineers compared with day duty. For long working hours, the scores were 2.43 (1.68-3.51) for >52 working hours by officers, 1.72 (1.15 - 2.58) for those in sales and service compared to ${\leq}40$ working hours. We suggest the need for Korean workers to target specific groups when creating policies related to reasonable environmental conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.87-98
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• 1992

This study was undertaken to investigate protein effects on the adaptation of shift work. Since biorhythms differ according to the time of day, an investigation of the change of metabolism during day-shift and night-shift was undertaken by dividing twenty 3-shift worker into two groups: dormitory diet group and milk & egg supplemented group. Between the two groups, estimations were made on the concentrations of serum protain, albumin, cholesterol and cortisol and the excretion of vanilymandelic acid(VMA), creatinine and nitrogen in urine. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Serum ingredients were gathered from workers at 6:00-7:00h and 14:00-15:00h on the day of their change from morning shift(6:00-14:00h) to night shift(22:00-6:00h). On examnation of the serum ingredient it was found that, in dormitory diet group only the concentrarion level of serum albumin showed a change of rhythm adapted to night work, and in the milk & egg supplemented group the concentration levels of serum protein, albumin and cholesterol all showed a change of rhythm adapted to night work. Serum cortisol of both groups showed the same rhythm as during morining shfits, which implied nonadatation to night work, but the concentration was observed to be lower. 2. Excretion of urinary VMA and nitrogen were higher during night work than during morning work: they were also higher on the 6th day than on the 1st, in comparing the two groups, excretion of VMA was higher among the dormitory diet group, whereas the opposite was ture for excretion of nitrogen among the milk & egg supplemented group. There was no sign of difference in excretion of cretinine among the two experiment groups.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.278-283
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• 2024

Background: Limited research has delved into the effects of work characteristics on premenstrual symptoms (PMS) in women, which can influence work performance and overlook potential hazards for women in their work environments. This study aimed to investigate the impact of shift work and working in a clean room on premenstrual symptoms, menstrual status, and menstrual pain among employed females in an electronics manufacturer. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on menstruating female employees between August and December 2014, aged 18e55, who received regular employee health checks. Questionnaires were designed to collect information on demographics, personal lifestyle, menstrual status, menstrual pain scores, and self-reported premenstrual symptoms. Results: Among 7,193 participants, 18.6% reported moderate to severe menstrual pain affecting their work. Female workers who reported shift work showed an increased prevalence of moderate to severe premenstrual symptoms, including fatigue (RR = 1.20), somatic discomforts (RR = 1.04), diarrhea (RR = 1.04), and tension (RR = 1.05). Additionally, shift work was associated with an elevated risk of experiencing a moderate or significant impact of menstrual pain on work (RR = 1.03), menstrual irregularity (RR = 1.30), and high menstrual pain (RR = 1.23). Working in a clean room was associated with an increased risk of high menstrual pain (RR = 1.13). Subjects working shifts in a clean room had the highest pain scores compared to the other groups. Conclusion: This study underscores the association of work-related factors on PMS in female employees. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of premenstrual symptoms in female workers with different work characteristics, emphasizing the potential hazards of work-related factors on female employees.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.1-11
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• 2020

Purpose : The aim of this study was to compare shift satisfaction, sleep, fatigue, quality of life (QOL), and patient safety incidents between a newly implemented two-shift system and a traditional three-shift system. Methods : A total of 127 intensive care unit nurses (48 two-shift nurses and 79 three-shift nurses) working in a tertiary hospital in Seoul were recruited from January 1, 2017, to March 31, 2017. They completed a self-reported questionnaire about their work hours, shift satisfaction, sleep patterns, sleep quality, fatigue, QOL, and patient safety incidents in the past 2 weeks. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Results : The two-shift group showed higher shift satisfaction scores compared with the three-shift group (6.93 vs. 4.37, p<.001). Sleep latency was shorter and sleep quality was better in the two-shift group compared with the three-shift group. There were no significant differences in other sleep parameters, fatigue, QOL, and patient safety incidents between the two groups. Conclusion : Although a two-shift system did not improve nurses' fatigue or QOL in this study, it may effectively serve as an alternative shift-work system that can increase sleep quality and shift satisfaction without increasing patient safety incidents.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.323-329
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to investigate the level of depression among female hospital nurses and the influence of rotating shift work and quality of sleep on depression. A total of 295 nurses in Seoul were recruited and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The number of depressed nurses was 71.2%(CES-D total score ≥ 16) and factors influenced on nurses' depression were quality of sleep, rotating shift work, and work experience in nursing(1-2.9 years, more than 10 years). Based on the result of this study, nurse managers and hospital organization should use appropriate interventions to improve quality of sleep and negative effects of rotating shift work for nurses.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the meaning of job experiences of fixed night shift nurses participating in a pilot project by a tertiary hospital, and to provide basic information for improving their night shift working environment. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted using individual interviews in September 2022. Three female nurses who worked fixed night shifts were recruited from a tertiary hospital. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: By analyzing the meaning of job experience as a fixed night shift nurse, four categories and nine subcategories were identified. The four categories of job experience of fixed night shift nurses were: expecting an improvement physical health due to predictable working hours, enjoying leisure time due to long off-duty hours, regretting for loosened relationships, and considering a successful settlement of fixed night shift nursing. Conclusion: As night shift work is essential for nurses to provide continuous nursing to patients, it is necessary to develop various strategies to improve the physical health of night shift nurses through fatigue management and good sleep quality, mental health through work-life harmony, and social health through intimate relationships between patients and coworkers.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.119-128
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• 2021

This study was performed to improve the working conditions of female nurses by comparing their organizational commitment and turnover intention according to the type of work shift they prefer. This study is a descriptive survey study, and data were collected by conducting an online survey of 465 female nurses working in three shifts at seven medical institutions. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 24.0 in a χ² test, a two-sample independent t-test, a pearson correlation and MANCOVA. The result shows that the group of nurses preferring fixed work shift had higher organizational commitment at higher ages and had higher turnover intention if they had an experience of transferring to another medical institution. The study also found that the group that prefers fixed work shift had lower organizational commitment and higher turnover intention than the group of nurses preferring shift work. The nursing department in hospital should strive to improve the working environment in female nurses by developing various types of work, with an aim to increase the organizational commitment of female nurses preferring fixed work and reduce their turnover.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2015

Background: Shift work has been associated with occupational stress in health providers and in those working in some industrial companies. The association is not well established in the law enforcement workforce. Our objective was to examine the association between shift work and police work-related stress. Methods: The number of stressful events that occurred in the previous month and year was obtained using the Spielberger Police Stress Survey among 365 police officers aged 27-66 years. Work hours were derived from daily payroll records. A dominant shift (day, afternoon, or night) was defined for each participant as the shift with the largest percentage of total time a participant worked (starting time from 4:00 AM to 11:59 AM, from 12 PM to 7:59 PM, and from 8:00 PM to 3:59 AM for day, afternoon, and night shift, respectively) in the previous month or year. Analysis of variance and covariance were used to examine the number of total and subscale (administrative/professional pressure, physical/psychological danger, or organizational support) stressful events across the shift. Results: During the previous month and year, officers working the afternoon and night shifts reported more stressful events than day shift officers for total stress, administrative/professional pressure, and physical/psychological danger (p < 0.05). These differences were independent of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and police rank. The frequency of these stressful events did not differ significantly between officers working the afternoon and night shifts. Conclusion: Non-day shift workers may be exposed to more stressful events in this cohort. Interventions to reduce or manage police stress that are tailored by shift may be considered.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.102-109
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• 2024

Background: In today's modern world, longer working hours, shift work, and working at night have become major causes of the disruption of our natural circadian rhythms. This study aimed to investigate the effects of the type of shift work (rotating vs. fixed day), duty period (on-duty vs. off-duty), and working period within each shift (nighttime vs. daytime) on the circadian rhythm characteristics of nurses who provide direct patient care. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a purposive sampling method. Cosinor analysis was applied to analyze the actigraphy data of nurses providing direct patient care for seven consecutive days. The linear mixed effects model was then used to determine any variances between shift type, duty period, and working period within each shift for the nurses. Results: The mesor value did not differ according to nurses' shift type, duty period, and working period within each shift. The amplitude was statistically higher in on-duty nurses and in daytime working hours. The acrophase was significantly delayed in nighttime working hours. As well as nurses in rotating shift had experience. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that the peak activity of nurses occurs significantly later at night while working and nurses working during nighttime hours may have a weaker or less distinct circadian rhythm. Thus, this study suggests that limits be placed on the number of rotating nighttime shifts for nurses.