Bulgarian Journal of Psychiatry, 2022; 7(2):17-24

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB SATISFACTION AND EMPLOYEES’ ANXIETY

Natasha Stancheva-Pargov1, Vesela Stoyanova2

1Department of occupational health, Institute of occupational health, WHO Collaborating Center, Medical Faculty of the University of Skopje

2Department of Psychiatry and medical psychology, Medical University – Sofia

Аbstract. Background. Anxiety as a mental health condition is a very important part of workers’ health and their working productivity, and it can be predisposed by job dissatisfaction. Aims. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of anxiety among the public, private administration, and factory workers, and to determine the impact of job satisfaction on the intensity of the anxiety symptoms. Methods. A self-ad­ministrated questionnaires were completed by a sample of three groups of workers to assess mental health and seven aspects of job satisfaction (Generalized Anxiety Questonnaire-7 and Job Satisfaction Survey). Logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between anxiety symptoms and job satisfaction rate. Results. The analysis of the total GAD-7 score divided into two groups (<10 and ≥ 10) indicated that 93.5% were with minimal/mild anxiety and 6.4 % were with moderate/severe anxiety. The highest level of anxiety was found in public administration workers. The satisfaction rate of public workers was significantly lower as compared to private (p = 0.0001) and factory groups (p = 0.001). Furthermore, the job satisfaction rate was confirmed as a predictor, which significantly affects the varia­bility of GAD-7 anxiety in the private (10.9%), public (18%), and factory group (12%) groups, and in total sample (16.5%) (p < 0.05). By increasing the job satisfaction rate by one percent, in each of the groups the anxiety decreased by 0.04 vs.0.07 vs. 0.03 vs. 0.05 score respectively. Conclusion. Screening anxi­ety in workers is necessary because of its high prevalence and under recognition in workplace. It was demonstrated that there was strong correlation between inadequacies of work satisfaction and anxiety, and this can have negative effects on work performance. There is a need to look for solutions to increase work performance, and it should be the prime responsibility of the employer to pay due attention to motivate the employees so as to minimize the consequences on mental health, as well as absenteeism, and consequently increase the efficiency and productivity in the enterprises.

Key words: anxiety, GAD-7 questionnaire, job satisfaction survey, occupational group

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