The impact of bus drivers’ lifestyle on the occurrence of health problems and absenteeism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37886/Keywords:
absenteeism, lifestyle, professional drivers of buses, healthAbstract
Research Question (RQ): Do bus drivers’ lifestyles affect the occurrence of health problems and absenteeism?
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine whether the lifestyle of professional bus drivers affects the occurrence of health problems and the phenomenon of absenteeism.
Method: A quantitative research method was used in the research. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, on a sample of 230 professional bus drivers from different bus transport companies in Slovenia. Selected data were analyzed with chi-square test and multiple regression analysis.
Results: We determined that there is a relationship between the state of health of professional bus drivers and participation in sport activity and that there is a statistically significant impact of lifestyle on the absenteeism of professional bus drivers.
Organization: The study points to the necessity of management’s awareness to improve the conditions for the health status of employees and, consequently, absenteeism. Managers need to be more vigilant in ensuring conditions and social security that will allow employees a higher quality lifestyle.
Society: The poor quality lifestyle of professional bus drivers, which includes different addictions, inadequate physical activity, and poor working conditions, is a significant factor causing absenteeism. All these factors influence the onset of negative consequences, such as the direct cost of compensation payments, costs of replacing the absent person, a reduction in productivity, which in turn affect economic growth and the high cost of health care.
Originality: This is the first focus group study of professional bus drivers that targets lifestyle and its connection to absenteeism.
Limitations/Future Research: The main limitation of the study is the number of respondents. The reason for this is that professional drivers are less responsive in the survey and that the study was conducted only in Slovenia, country of two million people.
References
1. Aminian, O., Eftekhari, S., Ghaffari, M., Moinfar, Z., Mirzaaghaee, F., & Sadeghniiat, K. (2015). Assessment of the psychosocial work environment of professional drivers. Journal of Public Health, 23(6), 341-347. doi: 10.1007/s10389-015-0684-5
2. Alperovitch-Najenson, D., Santo, Y., Masharawi, Y., Katz-Leurer, M., Ushvaev, D., & Kalichman, L. (2010). Low back pain among professional bus drivers: ergonomic and occupational-psychosocial risk factors. IMAJ-Israel Medical Association Journal, 12(1), 26-31.
3. Bahadori, M., Sanaeinasab, H., Ghanei, M., Tavana, A. M., Ravangard, R., & Karamali, M. (2015). Prevention of Disease with emphasis on the lifestyle in the military personnel According to the Social Determinants of Health. International Journal of Medical Reviews, 2(2). Pridobljeno na http://journals.bmsu.ac.ir/ijmr/index.php/ijmr/article/view/70
4. Balieiro, L. C. T., Rossato, L. T., Waterhouse, J., Paim, S. L., Mota, M. C., & Crispim, C. A. (2014). Nutritional status and eating habits of bus drivers during the day and night. Chronobiology international, 31(10), 1123-1129. doi: 10.3109/07420528.2014.957299.
5. Berčič, H. (2005). Ali se v slovenska podjetja vrača obdobje vlaganja v človekove vire, v športno rekreativno dejavnost, zdravje in delovno sposobnost zaposlenih. Šport, 53(3), 33-39.
6. Boada-Grau, J., Prizmic-Kuzmica, A. J., González-Fernández, M. D., & Vigil-Colet, A. (2013). Spanish version of Bus Drivers' Job Demands Scale (BDJD-24). Psicothema, 25(2), 258-265. doi:10.7334/psicothema2012.106.
7. Boada-Grau, J., Sánchez-García, J. C., Prizmic-Kuzmica, A. J., & Vigil-Colet, A. (2012). Health and safety at work in the transport industry (trans-18): factorial structure, reliability and validity. The Spanish Journal of Psychology,15(01), 357-366. doi: 10.5209/rev_SJOP.2012.v15.n1.37342.
8. Bruno, P. S., Marcos, Q. R., Amanda, C., & Paulo, Z. H. (2013). Annoyance evaluation and the effect of noise on the health of bus drivers. Noise and health, 15(66), 301.doi: 10.4103/1463-1741.116561.
9. Chung, Y. S., & Wu, H. L. (2013). Stress, strain, and health outcomes of occupational drivers: An application of the effort reward imbalance model on Taiwanese public transport drivers. Transportation research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour, 19, 97-107. doi: 10.1016/j.trf.2013.03.002.
10. Deborah G., Passey R., Robbins K., Hegmann T., Ott U., Thiese Arun Garg M., Kinney Maureen A. Murtaugh, A. (2014). Long haul truck drivers’ views on the barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and physical activity. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 7(2) 121 -135. doi: 10.1108/IJWHM-08-2013-0031.
11. De Clercq, B., Clays, E., Janssens, H., De Bacquer, D., Casini, A., Kittel, F., & Braeckman, L. (2015). Health behaviours as a mechanism in the prospective relation between workplace reciprocity and absenteeism: a bridge too far?.PloS one, 10(11), e0141608. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141608.
12. Edberg, M. C. (2010). Essential readings in health behavior: Theory and practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning, London.
13. Frenkel, A., Bendit, E., & Kaplan, S. (2013). The linkage between the lifestyle of knowledge-workers and their intra-metropolitan residential choice: A clustering approach based on self-organizing maps. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 39, 151-161. doi:10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2012.09.001.
14. Gangopadhyay, S., & Dev, S. (2012). Effect of low back pain on social and professional life of drivers of Kolkata. Work, 41(Supplement 1), 2426-2433.
15. Heller, T., Fisher, D., Marks, B., & Hsieh, K. (2014). Interventions to promote health: crossing networks of intellectual and developmental disabilities and aging. Disability and health journal, 7(1), S24-S32. doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2013.06.001.
16. Helmkamp, J. C., Lincoln, J. E., Sestito, J., Wood, E., Birdsey, J., & Kiefer, M. (2013). Risk factors, health behaviors, and injury among adults employed in the transportation, warehousing, and utilities super sector. American journal of industrial medicine, 56(5), 556-568. doi: 10.1002/ajim.22148.
17. Hwang, G. S., Choi, J. W., Choi, S. H., Lee, S. G., Kim, K. H., Cho, Y. M., & Yoon, C. (2012). Effects of a tailored health promotion program to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors among middle-aged and advanced-age bus drivers. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 24(1), 117-127. doi:10.1177/1010539510373140
18. José Diez, J., Eduardo Vigo, D., Pedro Cardinali, D., & Pérez-Chada, D. (2014). Sleep habits, daytime sleepiness and working conditions in short-distance bus drivers. International Journal of Workplace Health Management,7(4), 202-212. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-02-2013-0004
19. Kresal, F., & Meško, M. (2015). Psihosocialni dejavniki tveganja za bolečino v križu pri slovenskih poklicnih voznikih in absentizem. Novo mesto: Fakulteta za organizacijske študije.
20. Kresal, F., Roblek, V., Jerman, A., & Meško, M. (2015). Lower back pain and absenteeism among professional public transport drivers. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 21(2), 166-172. doi: 10.1080/10803548.2015.1029289.
21. Meško, M., Jerman, A., & Kresal, F. (2012). Bolečine v spodnjem delu hrbtenice in življenjski slog pri poklicnih voznikih mestnega avtobusa = Pain in lower back and a lifestyle of professional city bus drivers. V: KRESAL, Friderika (ur.), JANKOVIČ, Patricija (ur.). Dobre prakse v fizioterapevtskih obravnavah = Best practices in physiotherapy treatments: zbornik predavanj z recenzijo. Ljubljana: Zbornica fizioterapevtov Slovenije, str. 161-169.
22. Michelini, E., & Thiel, A. (2013). The acceptance of" sport" in the communication of the health system. A sociological analysis. EJSS. European Journal for Sport and Society, 10(4), 325-344.
23. Okunribido, O. O., Shimbles, S. J., Magnusson, M., & Pope, M. (2007). City bus driving and low back pain: a study of the exposures to posture demands, manual materials handling and whole-body vibration. Applied ergonomics, 38(1), 29-38.
24. Peretz, H., Levi, A., & Fried, Y. (2015). Organizational diversity programs across cultures: effects on absenteeism, turnover, performance and innovation.The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(6), 875-903. doi: 10.1080/09585192.2014.991344.
25. Piha, K., Laaksonen, M., Martikainen, P., Rahkonen, O., & Lahelma, E. (2013). Socio-economic and occupational determinants of work injury absence. The European Journal of Public Health, 23(4), 693-698. doi:10.1093/eurpub/cks162.
26. Pišot, R. in Završnik, J. (2002). Z gibanjem do zdravja – od otroka do starostnika. Zdravstveno varstvo, 41(1-2), 12-15.
27. Polan, E. U., & Taylor, D. R. (2015). Journey across the life span: Human development and health promotion. FA Davis, Philadelphia.
28. Puhkala, J., Kukkonen-Harjula, K., Mansikkamäki, K., Aittasalo, M., & Hublin, C. (2015). Lifestyle counseling to reduce body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors among truck and bus drivers-a randomized controlled trial. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 41(1), 54. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.3463.
29. Rabacow, F. M., Levy, R. B., Menezes, P. R., do Carmo Luiz, O., Malik, A. M., & Burdorf, A. (2014). The influence of lifestyle and gender on sickness absence in Brazilian workers. BMC public health, 14(1). doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-317.
30. Restrepo, M., Weinstein, M., & Reio Jr, T. G. (2015). Job Structure and Organizational Burnout: A Study of Public School Bus Drivers, Bus Aides, Mechanics, and Clerical Workers. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health,30(3), 251-271. doi: 10.1080/15555240.2015.1027824.
31. Rippe, J. M. (2012). Encyclopedia of lifestyle medicine and health. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
32. Rosso, G. L., Perotto, M., Feola, M., Bruno, G., & Caramella, M. (2015). Investigating obesity among professional drivers: the high risk professional driver study. American journal of industrial medicine, 58(2), 212-219. doi: 10.1002/ajim.22400.
33. Sila, B. (2002). Subjektivna ocena zdravstvenega stanja v povezavi s pogostostjo športne aktivnosti. V: Krepimo zdravje z gibanjem in zdravo prehrano. Radenci: Mednarodna konferenca ohranimo zdravje. Slovenija, str. 147 – 152.
34. Silla, I., & Gamero, N. (2014). Shared time pressure at work and its health-related outcomes: Job satisfaction as a mediator. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(3), 405-418. doi: 10.1080/1359432X.2012.752898.
35. Šinigoj, T., Karpljuk, D., Videmšek, M., Štihec, J. in Meško, M. (2011). Gibalna dejavnost in življenjski slog voznikov tovornih vozil = Sports activity and lifestyle of truck drivers. Šport, 59(3/4), 93-97.
36. Tamrin, S. B. M., Yokoyama, K., Aziz, N., & Maeda, S. (2014). Association of risk factors with musculoskeletal disorders among male commercial bus drivers in Malaysia. Human factors and ergonomics in manufacturing & service industries, 24(4), 369-385. doi: 10.1002/hfm.20387.
37. Verster, J. C., Van Der Maarel, M. A., McKinney, A., Olivier, B., & De Haan, L. (2014). Driving during alcohol hangover among Dutch professional truck drivers. Traffic injury prevention, 15(5), 434-438. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2013.833329
38. Zavanela, P. M., Crewther, B. T., Lodo, L., Florindo, A. A., Miyabara, E. H., & Aoki, M. S. (2012). Health and fitness benefits of a resistance training intervention performed in the workplace. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 26(3), 811-817. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318225ff4d.
