Perceived Stress at Work and Associated Factors among E-Waste Workers in French-Speaking West Africa

Nonvignon Marius Kêdoté,Pérince Fonton,Julius Fobil,Ghislain Emmanuel Sopoh,Marthe Sandrine Sanon Lompo,Steve Biko Tobada,Aymeric Joaquin Darboux

doi:10.3390/ijerph19020851

Abstract

Perceived stress at work is an important risk factor that affects the mental and physical health of workers. This study aims to determine the prevalence and factors associated with perceived stress in the informal electronic and electrical equipment waste processing sector in French-speaking West Africa. From 14 to 21 November 2019, a cross-sectional survey was carried out among e-waste workers in five countries in the French-speaking West African region, and participants were selected by stratified random sampling. Participants were interviewed on socio-demographic variables and characteristics related to e-waste management activities using a questionnaire incorporating Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (10-item version). Factors associated with perceived stress were determined by multivariate logistic regression. A total of 740 e-waste workers were interviewed. The mean age of the workers was 34.59 ± 11.65 years, with extremes of 14 and 74 years. Most of the interviewees were repairers (43.11%). The prevalence of perceived stress among the e-waste workers was 76.76%. Insufficient income, number of working days per week, perceived violence at work, and the interference of work with family responsibilities or leisure were the risk factors that were the most associated with perceived stress. The high prevalence of perceived stress and its associated factors call for consideration and improvement of the working conditions of e-waste workers.

Highlights

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines perceived work stress as the set of reactions that workers have when faced with work constraints and work pressures that do not correspond to their knowledge and/or abilities and that challenge their ability to carry out the work assigned to them [1]
It is clear that stress is a serious problem among e-waste workers in the French-speaking West African region
It becomes imperative to address the problems of perceived stress in the e-waste sector by implementing effective public health interventions focusing on the issue of occupational stress and its corollaries

Summary

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines perceived work stress as the set of reactions that workers have when faced with work constraints and work pressures that do not correspond to their knowledge and/or abilities and that challenge their ability to carry out the work assigned to them [1]. Stress is an important risk factor for human health. It favors the occurrence of physical and mental health problems and negatively affects the performance of workers in carrying out their activities [1]. Occupational stress is a result of the mismatch between an individual and the environment, as harmful physical and emotional responses occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. A higher discrepancy between external stresses and an individual’s capabilities causes a higher level of stress [3]

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