[To explore the role of work engagement in the relationship between occupational stress and sleep disorders among petrochemical workers].

Objective

To explore the moderating and mediating effects of work engagement on the relationship between occupational stress and sleep disorders among workers in petrochemical enterprises.

Methods

In April 2022, a questionnaire survey was used to conduct cluster sampling among all on-duty employees at a petrochemical enterprise in Henan Province. Informations on demographic characteristics, occupational stress, work engagement, and sleep disorders were collected. Partial correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships among work engagement, occupational stress, and sleep disorder scores. Hierarchical linear regression was applied to test the moderating effect of work engagement on the association between occupational stress and sleep disorders. The Bootstrap method was performed to examine the mediating effect of work engagement on the association between occupational stress and sleep disorders.

Results

A total of 857 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective recovery rate of 99.5% (857/861). The occupational stress score was[46.00 (41.00, 51.00) ] points, and the prevalence of occupational stress was 33.4% (286/857). The total work engagement score was[4.24 (2.62, 5.29) ] points, and the sleep disorders score was[11.00 (7.00, 15.00) ] points. Partial correlation analysis showed that sleep disorders was negatively correlated with work engagement, vigor, dedication, and absorption (r=-0.290, -0.324、-0.281, -0.222, P<0.05), and was positively correlated with occupational stress (r=0.376, P<0.05). Occupational stress was negatively correlated with work engagement (r=-0.333, P<0.05). Hierarchical linear regression indicated that occupational stress increased the risk of the occurrence of sleep disorders (β=0.340, 95%CI: 0.284-0.396, P<0.001), while work engagement reduced this risk (β=-0.891, 95%CI: -1.108--0.530, P<0.001). However, no moderating effect of work engagement on the association between occupational stress and sleep disorders was found (P>0.05). The results of mediating effect model revealed that work engagement partially mediated the association between occupational stress and sleep disorders, with a mediation effect of 0.0543 (95%CI: 0.0310-0.0894, P<0.001), accounting for 16.0% of the total effect.

Conclusion

Work engagement plays a partial mediating role in the association between occupational stress and sleep disorders among workers in petrochemical enterprises, whereas no significant moderating effect is found.