Work Stressor and Insomnia among Fire Fighters in South Jakarta

Fire fighters were continually exposed to high job demand (both quantitative and qualitative), great responsibility, and necessity to perform the task in short period of time often in dangerous and critical situation. Those factors could become work stressor which would then affect their health. This study aim to assess the relation between work stressors and the occurence of insomnia in fire fighters. A cross-sectional study was conducted on July-December 2007. Data were collected through several questionnaires which include socio-demographic characteristics of subjects, evaluation of work stressor based on Stress Diagnostic Survey questionnaire, insomnia screening based on Insomnia Rating Scale and the occurrence of other factors which could precipitate insomnia. The insomnia prevalence among 259 subjects was 42.9% and the dominant work stressor is qualitative over-load (55.6%). Factors which have significant relation with insomnia were qualitative over-load (OR 3.88, 95% CI 1.80-8.36), quantitative over-load and living in noisy environment (OR 2.44, 95% CI 1.06-5.63). High prevalence of insomnia was found among fire-fighters in this study. Work stressor especially qualitative and quantitative overload and also noisy environment have significant relationship with insomnia. J Indon Med Assoc. 2011;61:487-92.Keywords: Fire fighters, insomnia, work stressor