Prevalence and associated factors of occupational stress among bus drivers of Sri Lanka Transport Board in Colombo District

Introduction: Occupational stress among bus drivers is on the rise in the world. It is of prime importance to detect the prevalence and to identify the associated factors of job stress for managing it among bus drivers in Sri Lanka. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of occupational stress and its associated factors among bus drivers of Sri Lanka Transport Board in Colombo District Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytical component was carried out in Sri Lanka Transport Board depots in the district of Colombo among 631 bus drivers. The study population was selected by simple random sampling method and used the Effort Reward Imbalance-Sinhala questionnaire and other self-administered questionnaires as instruments. Associated factors with occupational stress were determined by multivariate analysis using adjusted odds ratio (aOR). Results: The prevalence of occupational stress was 52.1% (95% CI=50.66, 53.62). The factors associated with occupational stress in multivariate analysis were current use of tobacco (aOR=9.3; 95% CI=5.71, 11.2), good alertness at the end of the day (aOR=13.2; 95% CI=9.48, 15.11), work experience ten years or less (aOR=9.8; 95% CI=8.65, 11.2), working days per week six days or more (aOR=9.72; 95% CI=5.65, 12.16) and working hours per day more than 10 hours (aOR=3.1; 95% CI=2.67, 5.1). Conclusions & Recommendations: The prevalence of occupational stress was high among bus drivers. There were modifiable and non-modifiable associated factors for job stress. Mental health promotion programs need to be conducted at the recruitment of bus drivers.