Coping with occupational stress among urban bus and tram drivers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to identify the ways public transport drivers cope with stressful events of daily working life. One hypothesis is that stress‐induced problems at work are resistant to direct actions and that this may be even more the case among blue‐collar workers who typically have less control than managerial and professional staff. Emotion‐focused rather than problem‐focused forms of coping may therefore be the more prevalent. The second aim was to examine the relationships between coping processes and adaptational outcomes such as work strain and somatic complaints. The discussion about the effectiveness of different coping strategies shows a positive bias toward problem‐focused approaches. Yet there is little empitical evidence confirming either the superiority of problem‐solving attempts or the ineffectiveness of efforts to manage the stress‐related emotions (Menaghan & Merves, 1984).

Job stress, burnout and substance use among urban transit operators: The potential mediating role of coping behaviour

“…In addition, Bartone (1989) found that being under high stress, bus drivers who got ill reportedly engaged in more avoidance coping than drivers who did not get ill. Consistently, Kü hlmann's (1990) study with male public transit operators found that among the coping strategies identified (i.e., positive self-instruction, resigned acceptance with aggressive emotional discharge, suppression, and active prevention), resigned acceptance with aggressive emotional discharge coping was significantly and positively related to work-related stress, somatic complaints, feeling of exhaustion, and time to unwind. These findings are consistent with other research showing a negative association between denial-like coping and somatic health status (e.g., Folkman, Lazarus, Gruen, & DeLongis, 1986;Folkman & Lazarus, 1988;Snow, Swan, Raghavan, Connell, & Klein, 2003).…”

Power motivation, illness, coping strategies and psychological stress in police trainees

“…Problem-focused coping strategies were employed most often, although E-F and P-F forms of coping were generally used together. Kuhlman (1990) suggested that when both styles of coping are used together, E-F modes of coping facilitate P-F coping behaviour by managing stress-related emotions that would Downloaded by [Uppsala universitetsbibliotek] at 03:49 06 October 2014 otherwise hinder P-F coping. In relation to the present study, police trainees used high levels of self-control and planful problem solving.…”

Psychomotor conditions of bus drivers subjected to noise and vibration in the working environment

“…Among the many factors of the drivers' working environment, that adversely influence driver's health and psychophysical efficiency, stress has a significant role [3]. Driving a bus under heavy traffic conditions (currently the norm) is a challenge at the present time [9].…”