IMPACT OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS ON DIETARY PATTERN AND HEALTH STATUS OF BANK STAFFERS IN BIDA, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Stress has been prevalent in modern life pattern of people, which affects the dynamism of human skills and productivity.  Occupational stress poses a hindrance to a smooth function and introduces friction lapse, inefficiency, psychological, emotional, health breakdown and unpleasant variable in the operational activities of any organization. It has thus been recognized as a prevalent occupational issue of public health importance. This study therefore, investigated the impact of occupational stress, on productivity and dietary pattern of bank staffers in Bida, Niger State. A total of 50 respondents were used for this study from the selected banks. A crosss sectional study design was carried out using semi structured questionnaire to retrieve information on the socio-demography, occupational stressors and dietary pattern of the respondents. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 25.0, and statistical significance was considered at p-value of 0.05.  The results revealed that majority (85 %) of the bank staffers have ever experienced various forms of work stress, however, forty percent revealed that they often get stressed at work.  Factors such as work overload, job insecurity, so many deadlines to meet, and inability to acquire professional qualification needed for career advancements were identified. Two-thirds of the respondents (60%) indicated that stress affected their performance level negatively. About sixty percent indicated that their feeding patterns were affected negatively inform of indigestion, while few (30%) indicated loss of appetite (anorexia) due to fatigue as one of the negative impacts of occupational stress on their dietary pattern. Almost all (90%) of respondents indicated skipping meals during work days, majority (70%) indicated that they usually engage more in snacking than eating nourishing meals. Among those that consume proper meals, majority (80%) indicated that such foods were sourced from street food vendors. Among the food groups commonly consumed by the respondents, cereals (40%), legumes (40%) and root and tubers (40%) inform of eba, fried yam and potatoes were the most consumed on weekly basis however, fruits and vegetables were the least consumed although, mango, water melon and dates ranked high among the fruits seldomly consumed. Also, Overweight (30%) and class I obesity (38%) were prevalent among the respondents. The study showed that occupational stress played significant impact on both productivity and dietary pattern of the bank staffers (p= 0.000, ℷ²= 50.000), also, Meal skipping had strong association with the anthropometric indices of the respondents (X²=21.930, P ≤ 0.01) and number of meals per day had strong positive association with the anthropometric indices of the respondents (X²=75.263, P ≤ 0.01). Occupational stress is a strong determinant of feeding pattern and productivity of bankers. It is therefore recommended that banks' management should endeavor to improve the working condition of their employee to ease off the negative impact on overall productivity and health conditions of their staffers.