Affiliations: [a]
Department of Nursing, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan
| [b]
Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Chiayi Campus, Chiayi, Taiwan
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Rei Mei Hong, RN. Ph.D., Associate Professor, Nursing Department, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, No. 2, Sec W., Jiapu Rd., Puzi City, Chiayi County 61363, Taiwan. Emails: rmhong02@gmail.com and rmhong@mail.cgust.edu.tw.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Sleep and mental health are very important in the aviation industry. Reports show that gender is one of the risk factors of insomnia, and most Asian flight attendants are female. Therefore, it is necessary to understand insomnia, and the correction to mental health among female flight attendants. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the prevalence of insomnia in female flight attendants and its association with mental health. METHODS:We used a cross-sectional design. We recruited 412 female flight attendants with more than 3 months of working experience. We collected the socio-demographic and work-related data, measured insomnia and mental health by the Athens Insomnia and Brief Symptom Rating Scales. Descriptive statistics, single-factor analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed to analyze the relationships. RESULTS:There are 45.4% of female flight attendants having insomnia, and 24.8% had suspicious insomnia. The most considerable and serious insomnia problem was falling asleep (15.3%, 4.9%). Factors related to insomnia include smoking, drinking, family load (e.g., housekeeping and caring for family), economic stress and late-night/early morning workdays during last month. Also, insomnia had a direct association with mental health (T = 17.11, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION:We found that insomnia is negatively correlated with the above factors and mental health. We recommend that airline industries can run their sleep-education programs and provide relevant mental-health-promotion programs for flight attendants.
Keywords: Sleep, work, mental hygiene, health promotion
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-220431
Journal: Work, vol. 76, no. 4, pp. 1455-1463, 2023
