Objectives: The UK Health and Safety Institute believes that the factors that cause occupational stress can be examined through a set of management standards, such as demand, change, support from officials, support from colleagues, communication, control, and role domains. The current study aimed to investigate the seven domains that cause occupational stress and their relationship with the occupational performance of Health Deputy Staff of Medical Sciences in Saveh, Iran, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: This was an applied and cross-sectional study. The census method was used in the present study. The study sample consisted of 316 individuals selected from the Health Deputy staff of Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran, in 2022. To investigate the management of occupational stress and the staff performance, the standard questionnaires for occupational stress assessment (HSE) and the Patterson performance assessment were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 26).
Results: The results of this study showed that with the increase in the total score of occupational stress as well as the domains of role, demand and changes, the total score of staff's occupational performance increased significantly (P < 0.001), while this relationship for the variables of the communication domain (P = 0.06), the support of officials (P = 0.82), the support of colleagues (P = 0.28) and control (P = 0.18) were not significant. After adjusting for the confounding effects of seven domains on job performance, the role variable had the most significant impact on changes in staff's performance scores (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The demand domain score suggests that high work pressure and longer working hours significantly impact staff stress. Therefore, it is recommended that the workload and schedule be adjusted to the capacity, working conditions, and staff's abilities through an organizational planning review.
