Level of Stress in Ganale Dawa Hydropower Dam construction workers: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract Background:Stress is the harmful physical and emotional response caused by an imbalance between the perceived demands and the perceived resources and abilities of individuals to cope with those demands. In the developing world, work-related stress is an issue of growing concern. Work-related stress can severely impact workers' general achievement levels in a negative way concerning both efficiency and accuracy. Thus striving to determine the level of stress at a job and its contributory factors will be insatiable input for intervention.Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence and associated factors of job stress among Ganale Dawa 3D Hydropower Dam construction workers from April1-22, 2018. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire on 405 workers. Multivariable logistic regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to identify the factors significantly associated with a good level of food hygiene knowledge. P-value less than 0.05 was used to declare statistical significant association.Result: A quarter of construction workers,24.7% [95% CI: (20.5%, 28.0%)]suffered from stress in their workplace. Being at young (AOR: 3.07, 95% CI: 1.45, 6.47) and middle (AOR: 3.94 95% CI: 1.27, 12.24)ages; sustain injury in 12 months (AOR: 2.6095% CI: 1.40, 4.80), shiftwork (AOR: 2.22 95% CI: 1.03, 4.79) and working over 48 hours per week (AOR: 4.5495% CI: 2.40, 8.56)were significantly associated with stress. Conclusion: This study showed that construction work is one of the most stressfuloccupations. It also suggeststhat age of workers, history of injury within 12 months of the study, shift work, and working over 48 hours per week were significantly associated with stress. Therefore, much has to be done by introducing flexible working hours that do not exceed 48 hours per week, avoiding long hours of shift work longer than 8hours and protecting the workers from work-related injury.