Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Welfare recipients--Employment--Iowa; Absenteeism (Labor); Job stress; Welfare recipients--Employment; Iowa;

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between selected occupational stressors and absenteeism among PROMISE JOBS specialists across the State of Iowa. The Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) (Osipow & Spokane, 1987) supplemented with demographic and absentee measures was administered to the entire population of205 specialists in 16 service delivery areas. The service delivery area directors distributed the surveys in their local agencies. The specialists were asked to return the survey questionnaire in the self-addressed pre-paid envelopes. The overall return rate was 104 questionnaires (50. 7%) of the original population. The findings of this study were based upon 90 usable questionnaires. The OSI consisted of the following three questionnaires: Occupational Roles Questionnaire (ORQ), Personal Strain Questionnaire (PSQ), and Personal Resource Questionnaire (PRQ). Each of these questionnaires is composed of items on a five-point Likert scale. The OSI measures the following 14 variables: role overload, role insufficiency, role ambiguity, role boundary, responsibility, physical environment, vocational strain, psychological strain, interpersonal strain, physical strain, recreation, selfcare, social support, and rational/cognitive coping. The mean OSI t-scores suggest that the female PROMISE JOBS specialists exhibit a normal level of stress and strain. The coping resources for the female respondents were also within the normal range. These results suggest that the female specialists are able to cope with the stress or strains of the occupation. The mean OSI t-scores for male respondents indicate similar responses. The stress and strain also fell into the normal levels with the exception of role insufficiency as this measure indicated a mild level of stress. The male respondents also indicated normal coping responses. The occupational stressors of psychological strain, role ambiguity, and role overload were correlated with physician-excused and total days absent during the past fiscal year. The Pearson product-moment technique indicated no statistically significant relationships between any of the measures.

Year of Submission

1996

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Thomas Davis

Second Advisor

Larry Hensley

Third Advisor

Michele Yehieli

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1996

Object Description

1 PDF file (69 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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