SLEEP QUALITY AND PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL WELL-BEING IN NORTH-AMERICAN PETROCHEMICAL SHIFT WORKERS

We modified a European questionnaire, the Standard Shiftwork Index, in syntax and length for application to workers of an American continuou s operations petrochemical company in southeast Texas, Three groups of male employees-147 day workers, 107 8-hour backward rotating shift wo rkers, and 107 12-hour shift workers-were surveyed for sleep quality, physical well-being, and time for family and personal pursuits. The gr oups were comparable in terms of travel time to work, marital status, age, number of children at home under the age of 18 years, history (ye ars) of shift work, and proportion of partners working outside the hom e, Statistically significant group differences were detected in the me an responses between the 8-hour backward and the other groups for the indices of sleep quality, physical well-being (gastrointestinal and ca rdiovascular complaints), and time for family and personal pursuits. I n all cases, the 8-hour backward shift work group fared worst. The dif ferences between the groups are believed to reflect the stress of the respective work shift schedules.