Burnout, Sleep, and Sleepiness during Day and Night Shifts in Transition from 8- to 12-Hour Shift Rosters among Airline Ground Crew Managers.

Shochat Shochat,Hadish-Shogan Hadish-Shogan,Tzischinsky Tzischinsky,Banin Yosipof Banin Yosipof,Recanati Recanati

doi:10.3390/clockssleep1020020

Shochat Shochat, Hadish-Shogan Hadish-Shogan + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep1020020

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Abstract

Organizational changes in shift scheduling provide rare opportunities for field studies aimed at investigating the effects of such changes on health and wellbeing. We studied the effects of a transition from 8-hour (8-h) to 12-hour (12-h) shift rosters in 39 airline ground crew managers on burnout, sleep quality, and sleepiness. Assessments were collected during the 8-h and were repeated three months after the transition to 12-h shift rosters. These assessments included the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), actigraphy, the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) completed hourly during one day and two night shifts, and caffeine intake. Findings demonstrated lower burnout, improved sleep quality, improved quality of naps, and increased afternoon sleepiness during the 12-h day shift. Napping was reported during 12-h night shifts by 36% of the sample. In nappers, increased night shift sleepiness was associated with increased caffeine intake on 8- and 12-h shifts. In non-nappers, increased night shift sleepiness was associated with decreased caffeine intake on the 8-h shift only. Change in shift length affects other structural and behavioral parameters in the workplace, making it challenging to isolate distinct characteristics of the two rosters and their relative effects on study outcomes. Individual differences in adaptation to shiftwork may also play a role.

Highlights

For the past several decades, ergonomics researchers have attempted to optimize shiftwork schedules in order to improve health, safety, welfare, and functional outcomes for shift workers
In order to maintain a comparable number of weekly work hours, 12-h shift rosters in effect compress the number of work days in the week [21]
Other changes include shift start time [8] and breaks and rest periods [6]. These and other changes may be considered necessary adaptations in the workplace, but they challenge research efforts to tease apart the effects of the separate constituents on relevant functional outcomes

Summary

Introduction

For the past several decades, ergonomics researchers have attempted to optimize shiftwork schedules in order to improve health, safety, welfare, and functional outcomes for shift workers. In a series of studies using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) fatigue and performance test battery in control room operators [13,14] and in employees of a natural gas utility [15], findings consistently showed decline in performance tasks that were attributed to the extra work hours and shorter sleep duration following the transition from 8-h to 12-h shifts. Assessment of performance over consecutive workdays revealed that some performance tasks (e.g., grammatical reasoning response time and accuracy) improved across days in the 12-h but not in the 8-h shift rosters, suggesting that the shorter workweek may offset some of the negative effects of the longer work shift [13]. Investigators concluded that the extra work hours per shift and the associated sleep debt and increase in fatigue explain the decline in performance during the 12-h shifts, and that despite this decline, the opportunity to condense the work week into fewer shifts is popular among workers who are willing to endure the increased fatigue and compromised performance [15]

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