Work Health, Perceived Stress and Coping Mechanisms of Post- Covid-19 Pandemic of Selected Fast Food Restaurant of Service
Personnel of Iloilo Province, Philippines
Denzil I. Galon1*
1 Republic of the Philippines, Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College, Barotac Viejo Campus, Province of Iloilo, Philippines
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 November 2021 | Published: 1 December 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijbtm.2021.3.4.2
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Abstract: The study explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the restaurant personnel in the province of Iloilo, Western Visayas. It also includes work health, perceived stress, and coping mechanism they instituted amidst the situation. The sample size 175 commercialized and non-commercialized restaurant business. Descriptive research design was used. Results revealed the effect of wellness stress, occupational stress, and the effect of stress working condition of health against covid-19 pandemic, and its coping mechanism of fast food restaurant personnel that are affected of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in the community.
The restaurant industry has been facing an unprecedented change of COVID-19 pandemic.
The resulting financial stress, isolation and uncertainty physical and mental health stress.
Coronavirus on the food service industry in the province of Iloilo is facing global health issues within food service prior to COVID-19. As the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching implications continue to unfold globally, new quarantine classifications in the province imposes by the respective local government units (LGU’s) could still affect the economic status of restaurant business. Movement of all persons in all areas are limited to accessing essential goods and services, and for restaurant worker’s industries permitted to operate at such capacity and following protocols in accordance with guidelines provided. As to demographic profile of fast food personnel of Iloilo Province, there were 235 respondents in this research investigation in the level of stress management conceived in this study, on Work Health Symptoms fatigue once a week highest symptom (104) 41.3% and lowest on irritability almost all day, every day symptoms (N=41) 16.3%). The emergence of COVID-19 has significantly impacted in the most stressful time of the entire restaurant personnel findings indicate the stressed induced impact of pandemic implication to stress of employees.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic outbreak; fast food restaurant personnel; Work Health;
Perceived Stress; Coping Mechanisms, Province of Iloilo
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1. Introduction
The Fast – Food Industry and COVID-19 in Iloilo Province finds that working conditions in the Province of Iloilo, Western Visayas fast-food industry lead to an increased risk of COVID- 19 pandemic in the province, transmission in local communities effect the salary and wages of fast food employees that earns low earners as a part-time fast food workers or full-time basis that have plagued the food business industry for years. Fast Food is an integral part of the local
sector of business industry comprising micro and macro businesses fast food restaurant workers, the vast majority of whom low income workers of the province of Iloilo.
Workplace spread of COVID-19 pandemic, impacts on businesses and communities. Fast-food workers have shifted their work with limited working hours of the implementation and guidelines of Local Government Unit (LGU) based on the COVID-19 guidelines and implementing ruling of Department of Tourism (DOT) and COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease Resolution (IATF).
The common point of pandemic is their series of negative effects on the local economy, changes of resolution from Local Government Unit (LGU) resolution in the midst of pandemic arises in the locality. COVID-19 resulted in the movement restrictions of fast-food workers, changes in demand of consumers, closure of food production facilities, restricted food pressure in food supply.
Employees are the key factor in the success of any food service organization. Focusing on work-stress related issues consequences of work-stress in the fast-food restaurant will determine its performance and relationship. Now a day’s work stress is a widespread phenomenon with disastrous practical and economic consequences for local business in the province of Iloilo.
This study will determine the stress related features that influence the pandemic COVID-19 work stress acquired by the fast food employees that management and prevention of workplace stress required organizational level intervention and informed various effect coping mechanism to create less or stressful working situations in the fast food restaurant.
2. Literature Review
The current coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led the world towards severe socio- economic crisis and psychological distress. It has severely hit the economy; but the service sector, particularly the hospitality industry, is hard hit by it. It increases the sense of insecurity among the employees and their perception of being unemployed, adversely affecting their mental health to contribute to the emerging debate the effect of economic crisis and non- employability on employee’s mental health through perceived job insecurity under the pandemic situation. Perceived job insecurity mediates the relationship of fear of economic crisis, non-employability and mental health (Khan K., Niai, Nasir, Hussain and Khan M., 2021).
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, associated with the economic consequences of nonpharmaceutical interventions such as lockdown, has led to mental health consequences among people worldwide. Protecting the mental well-being of populations is an imperative component of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. As to validated scale encompasses the negative socioeconomic consequences of COVID-19. None of the available scales focused on the aspects of suicidal ideation or behavioral responses/coping strategies, neither were they inclusive of participants from diverse age, geographic, and COVID-19 exposure groups (Chandu, Marella, Panga, Pachava and Vadapali, 2020).
The current COVID-19 pandemic has evolved to unprecedented proportions. The psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ship employees stuck at sea.
COVID-19 pandemic has managed to erase the feeling of joy from cruise ship employees who were stuck at sea while exposing weakness of cruise line companies such as poor human
resource management leadership. Moreover, COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that it is of paramount importance that cruise line companies create a comprehensive strategy in assisting their employees who are experiencing an anxiety disorder and depression (Radic, Lück, Montes, and Han, 2020).
Work related stress is common in many industries and this situation troubling the organization due to lower productivity or poor performance. Stress at workplace is quite intense in restaurant industry because this industry required high commitments from employee. Employees are expected to work in shifts, long working hours, to have little or no weekend time, do repetitive work, to face with difficult customers, also to work within inefficient management. Even though study on job stress has widely done, but little studies were found on casual dining restaurant industry. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine the influence of workload towards job stress on employees in casual dining restaurant. Casual dining operators and management to highlight factor that could contribute to job stress and strategize ways to minimize stress and ultimately retain their employees in the restaurant (Amran, Ghazali, and Hashim, 2020).
Philippine Fast Food Industries According to Digal (2010), “Fast food” generally refers to the type of restaurants that sell quick and inexpensive take-out foods. In fact, at present, these fast foods are seen to be generally favored by the public and that companies of these nature are expected to experience a value growth of 46.9% on the year 2015 (International Market Bureau, 2012). Furthermore, the trend of urbanization and a general exodus of people living in rural areas to urban localities had propelled the growth of this economy (Euromonitor, 2011). As an effect, the demand for an increased workforce in these companies had also been continually on the rise. According to the National Statistics Office, the total employment in Hotel and Restaurant Industry in the Philippines were 90,101 (55,571 =male, 34,530 = female).
Conversely, as the customers continue to demand for fast foods to be truly “fast”, service personnel are thus subjected to a rigorous, service oriented, quality driven and fast-faced service which at times could result to work anxiety. Job stress or occupational stress, if left untreated, could be highly disruptive and might result to employees being unproductive and exceedingly dissatisfied.
Coping Mechanisms According to Hassim (2010), a direct negative impact of sources of occupational stress on mental health of an individual will elicit coping responses. Coping is defined as the cognitive and behavioral efforts made to master, tolerate, or reduce external and internal demands and the conflicts between them. However, researches that focus on coping strategies to reduce occupational stress were minimal. Folkman and Lazarus (1980) found eight scales of coping behaviors, and described the different coping scales. Problem solving and being confrontative are described as efforts to alter the situation and can therefore be characterized as problem-focused coping. Accepting and escape/avoidance are described as ways of managing a stressful situation through cognitive and emotional efforts without changing the situation itself. Furthermore, coping responses or strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize stressful events (Hassim, 2010). On the other hand, Gbadamosi (2012) defines coping strategies as ways in which individuals choose to respond to stressful situations.
Effectiveness of coping strategies may play an important role in reducing stress levels and increasing job performance (Wallace, 2010). Individuals need to possess the necessary coping strategies deriving from either their mental training to sustain positive thinking and/or the organization itself that helps stressed individuals to cope with the effects of stress. In a study by Folkman and Lazarus (1980), the standard model for research on coping comprises of two
main coping dimensions: Problem bfocused coping strategies which involve efforts to solve a problem or change a difficult situation in an active way, and Emotion- focused coping strategies which do not change the problem or situation directly but helps develop new meanings to be assigned or serve to regulate the emotions that are aroused.
Work-related stress is a pattern of reactions that occurs when workers are presented with work demands not matched to their knowledge, skills or abilities and which challenge their ability to cope. When there is a perceived imbalance between demands and environmental or personal resources, reactions may include:
• physiological responses (for example increased heart rate, blood pressure, hyperventilation, as well as secretion of 'stress' hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol),
• emotional responses (for example feeling nervous or irritated)
• cognitive responses (for example, reduction or narrowing of attention and perception, forgetfulness), and
• behavioral reactions (for example aggressive, impulsive behavior, making mistakes).
When in a state of stress, one often feels tense, concerned, less vigilant and less efficient in performing tasks.
Stress occurs in many different circumstances, but is particularly strong when a person's ability to control demands at work is threatened. Concerns about successful performance and fear of negative consequences resulting from performance failure evoke powerful negative emotions of anxiety, anger and irritation. The experience of stress is intensified if no support or help is available from colleagues or supervisors. Therefore, social isolation and lack of cooperation increase the risk of prolonged stress at work, as well as the related negative health outcomes and increased accident risk.
Conversely, work tasks with a high degree of personal control and skill variety, together with a work environment which includes supportive social relationships, can contribute positively to workers' well-being and health. When demands exceed abilities and knowledge, and the individual or the supervisor are able to perceive this, then an opportunity may arise to change this into a state of balance and a challenging and motivating situation of learning and growth via discussions and actions taken by the employer and/or worker or the worker representative.
Importantly, as “health is not merely the absence of disease but a positive state of physical, mental and social well-being” (WHO, 1986), a healthy working environment is one in which there is not only the absence of harmful conditions but also the presence of health-promoting actions.
Causes of work-related stress Although individual and organizational characteristics play a role in the development of work-related stress, the majority will agree that work-related stress results from the interaction between the worker and the conditions of work. Views differ, however, on the importance of worker characteristics versus working conditions as the primary cause of stress. These differences are important, since they suggest and lead to different ways to prevent the source of stress at work.
One view promotes that individual differences of the worker such as personality, age, education, experience and coping style are most important in predicting whether certain job
specifications will result in stress. These individual differences demand complementary prevention strategies that focus on the individual and promote ways of coping with demanding working conditions.
However, the prevailing view based on evidence is that certain working conditions are stressful to most people. Stressful working conditions are related to psychosocial hazards, such as too high or too low job demands, a fast work pace or time pressure, a lack of control over work load and work processes, lack of social support from colleagues and/or supervisors, discrimination, isolation, psychological harassment, lack of participation in decision making, poor communication or information flow, job insecurity, lack of opportunity for growth, lack of advancement or promotion, irregular working hours (especially shift work), and being exposed to unpleasant or dangerous physical conditions, and not being able to control them.
Here, prevention strategies focus on changing working conditions or job redesign.
Working conditions appear to be worse for workers employed in small enterprises, the self- employed, casual workers, and workers in the informal sector. The risks they face are generally of a chronic, long lasting nature, herewith implying negative health consequences. In addition, limited resources and heavy workload may aggravate exposure to stressful working conditions and adversely affect family lives.
Work-related stress may additionally result from a poor balance at the home-work interface, with particularly severe consequences when poverty, risk of unemployment and poor living conditions converge. This would particularly affect women in countries where gender disparities are strong and women have had a recent involvement in the workforce.
Responsibilities at work may conflict with family responsibilities such as care for a sick child or an elderly relative, or commitments to family and friends. Spill-over effects between work and home responsibilities showed to be one of the best predictors of psychological strain among women workers across hierarchical levels and sectors (Cedillo and Scarone, 2005).
These problems ask for prevention strategies which promote work-life balance and focus on the provision of support for people enabling them to combine work with family responsibilities with no detriment to other rights. Further indirect factors may influence the degree of work- related stress such as access to the general practitioner or occupational health physician, other relevant professionals, and also the economic situation in the country of residence, legislation and more informal regulations within the particular country or sector.
Women in workplaces generally experience and express stress-related problems more than men (for example, Kauppinen et al, 2003, Giuffrida et al, 2001). Causes for workrelated stress that are rather frequent and specific for women in both industrialised as well as developing countries are: 1. he double role they have to play both at home and work, and the difficulty in balancing these roles: 2. the gender roles of society and the need for an independent role against the need to conform to social expectations; 3. the sexual harassment at work, which is mainly directed at women at work; and 4. gender-based discrimination reflected in lower wages and higher job requirements.
Besides these adverse aspects at work, women are frequently exposed to domestic violence.
The prevalence of domestic violence in Latin American countries has an average of 30%
(Pallito, 2002) and although work performance is affected and could seem like a home Æ work conflict, there are examples of work policies which place domestic violence as a work-related
problem and develop some interventions at the organizational level (U.S. Department of Labor, 1996; OPS, 2003).
According to the World Health Organization in a report on violence and health (Krug, 2002) the percentage of women who had been assaulted by a partner in the previous twelve months varied from 3% or less among women in Australia, Canada and the United States to 27% of ever-partnered women (that is, women who have never had an ongoing sexual partnership) in Leon, Nicaragua, 38% of currently married women in the Republic of Korea, and 52% of currently married Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For many of these women, physical assault was not an isolated event but part of a continuing pattern of abusive behavior. Research suggests that in Monterrey, Mexico, 52% of physically assaulted women had also been sexually abused by their partners. Besides these data, the World Health Report describes also how poor women and girls may be more at risk of rape in the course of their daily tasks than those who are better off, for example when they walk home on their own from work late at night, or work in the fields or collect firewood on their own.
Research states that "the human cost in grief and pain, of course, cannot be calculated. In fact, much of it is almost invisible. While satellite technology has made certain types of violence – terrorism, wars, riots and civil unrest – visible to television audiences on a daily basis, much more violence occurs out of sight in homes, workplaces and even in the medical and social institutions set up to care for people. Many of the victims are too young, weak or ill to protect themselves. Others are forced by social conventions or pressures to keep silent about their experiences." (Krug, 2002; WHO, 2003).
The World Health Report on Violence and Health further states that "between 1996 and 1997, the Inter-American Development Bank sponsored studies on the magnitude and economic impact of violence in six Latin American countries (Buvinic and Morrison, 1999). Each study examined expenditures, as a result of violence, for health care services, law enforcement and judicial services, as well as intangible losses and losses from the transfer of assets. Expressed as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 1997, the cost of health care expenditures arising from violence was 1.9% of the GDP in Brazil, 5.0% in Colombia, 4.3%
in El Salvador, 1.3% in Mexico, 1.5% in Peru and 0.3% in Venezuela"(Krug, 2002).
Hospitality is regarded to be as one among the largest industries in the field of service. This service sector consists of cafes, restaurants and accommodation. Among these, the food service sector is sub categorized as commercial and noncommercial food service sectors. The restaurants of casual dining along with fine dining in India come under the area of full service and are categorized under commercial service of food providing. The development of food industry owes its credit to the preference for the restaurants. This increases the provision of more job opportunities to people. Since in the current era, hotels and restaurants are businesses which are people oriented, heavy competition exists among companies. In order to overcome such competitions, the employees of restaurants are expected to extend significant level of service in job. The current study has been carried out to examine the factors of occupational stress that exist commonly among the employees of hotels. Efforts were also taken to explore the extent to which these stress factors exist. Earlier researches have explored that workplace stress is more common in-service sectors. The present study has experienced that satisfying the customers is more particular factor of stress in hotel service. Perceived hazards of psychological nature are expected to make the employee more stressed. This psychological hazard may include high level of competition and performance based heavy expectations.
These hazards make the employee to live always in a stressful environment. These conditions also make them to face changes in personal as well as work life. Consequently, these hazards
lead to problems such as emotional imbalance, fall of motivation and eventually decline in the level of satisfaction in job. The productivity and the focus on the part of employees are intensively influenced by the factors of stress. The most important and necessary skill for a restaurant industry is to be attentive all the time, in order to serve the customers. This ability gets diminished due to the stress factor among the employees. The service sector of restaurants has been growing tremendously for the past few years and has been grown as a strong service providing industry.
Food service industry is one of the people-oriented businesses in this competitive modern era.
Competition between companies are intense, thus, the employees are expecting to represents a critical part of service. In short, the better the employee performance, the greater the guest satisfaction and loyalty will be. There are a few types of restaurant in the market. These restaurants represent different target market and market sector of the food service industry. In fact, they are different in many ways in terms of product line, organization structure, service style and might also financially different. One of the types is casual dining restaurant and it is also an in-thing trend at the moment. Casual dining restaurant is a type of restaurant that offers calm and easy ambience and menu items at lower to moderate price. It is a full-service, moderate-upscale type of dining and focuses on themes to represent their image, service, and interior decoration (Nasyira et al., 2014). It is slightly a bit expensive than fast food restaurant.
Casual dining offer table service to the customers, using no disposable dishes and flatware.
Job Stress Describing stress requires progresses over a series of stages on how they evolved than actually occurred. Every researcher has different ways in describing stress, depending on their agendas and approaches in explaining stress. Basically, stress is interpreted as an employee’s concern of their job associated toughness, pressure, burden, and emotional exhaustion (Wickramasinghe, 2016). It is actually one’s perception towards environment and condition in their surroundings, be it positive or negative. Stress also happen when a person being under excessive mental and emotional pressure which he/she is not capable to deal with.
When they perceived negativity in their surroundings, they tend to develop pressure, hence, the stress. This happened when they unable to control the threats developed by their mental, physical and emotional. Job stress can be sourced from workload, job condition, role conflict and ambiguity, career growth and conflicting demands (Hellriegel et al., 2004). Stress can give negative effects to an individual’s life in terms of productivity, creativity, economic as well as the healthcare. This statement was supported by (Tehrani et al., 2013) stated that higher level of job stress can lead to lower mental and (Mohamadi, Nourollahi, & Latifi, 2013) added that is also could lead to physical health, thus, it will make the workers abandons their own healthcare. Even though some level of stress is required to create interest, creativity and productivity, but, too much of stress could results in opposite outcome which it is actually not the level of stress supposed to be.
Working environment, the working environment consists of two bigger aspects which are work and context. Work scope means the attributes of the task such as the sequence of the task is performed and accomplished, which includes training, control on own job-related activities, sense of achievement, variety in tasks and the intrinsic value for a task. Working environment or working condition included working hours, amenities, co-workers and job stability. In research context, working environment is defined as the condition of surroundings at the workplace of the job which includes in and out, at the desk or even cubicle (Rezaul, 2014).
Addition to that, it also refers to the positive or negative conditions of the employees’ mental state. Factors within the organization such as salary, working hours, autonomy, organization structure, and communication between managerial and non-managerial levels also plays an
important role in determining the job performance (Lane, Esser, Holte, & Anne, 2010).
Inflexible working hours and unpredictable working schedules are not applied in the restaurant industry. Some industries may have stable working hours and coming to work at the same time everyday. Bokotic and Babic (2013) found that employees who work under tough working environments are discontented due to this factor. In order to overcome stress in employees, the management should improve the working environment. Employees who are satisfied with the working environment will increase their performance significantly, hence, job stress can be reduced.
Workload refers to the strength or intensity of job tasks. It is also mean a set of assignments that must be completed by an individual or unit within the time given. One form of job stress is workload, which means too many works to do within limited time given (Hon, 2013; Hon et al., 2013). Excessive workload is one of the sources of stress at work (Lo & Lamm, 2005) and also emotional exhaustion (Karatepe, 2013). For example, the restaurant industry is a frequent- contact, people-oriented industry that involves many interactions between frontline employees and customers. In the services sector, hospitality jobs (lodging and food service) are among the toughest and too often considered by unfavourable conditions that lead to contrary effects on employees’ physical and psychosocial wellbeing (Hsieh et al., 2013, 2015; Karatepe & Tizabi, 2011). Also, in determining the service quality of a restaurant, service performed by the employee always regarded as the most important factor. The quantity of tasks can be increased when the more addition of the workload and therefore the more the addition of the level of employee job stress. Also, a report stated by Kwoh in 2012 showed that 30% of the employees globally admit that they are daunted by intense pressure at work. After all, job performance can be improved with the presence of tolerable motivation. Also, moderate levels of stress and workload will let the individual’s focus stay without being bothered.
Over the last decade, the escalating costs associated with workplace stress indicate an international trend among industrial countries (Karasek & Theorell, 1990; Shergold, 1995).
For instance, in the United States the number of stress claims has trebled in the last year with 15 percent of all worker’s compensation claims being for stress. The cost to organizations of this level of occupational stress lies anywhere between 200 and 300 billion dollars per year as a result of high staff turnover, increased health and workers’ compensation claims and decreased productivity (Wojcik, 1999). In addition, recent figures emanating from Britain have indicated that approximately 70,000 workers are absent from work due to occupational stress every year (McKee, 1996), costing the nation around seven billion pounds in lost productivity, worker entitlements and health care. A subsequent result of these factors is the loss of 40 million working days per year (Shergold, 1995). Hodgson, Jones, Elliott and Osman (1993) reported that in the one year, 5.9 percent of workers surveyed in England and Wales recorded having an illness that was caused or made worse by work. Almost 14 percent of the population reported they had suffered work stress or depression in the previous year. Three occupational groups showed raised rates of stress, namely teachers, welfare workers and other health professionals. The stress rate among teachers was particularly marked, being over four times the average.
The Canadian Compensation Board (1996) found that 60 percent of Canadian workers ‘felt negative stress in the workplace’, and 80 per cent of this group stated that stress was adversely affecting their job performance and health. Workers between the ages of 25 and 44 years, as well as managerial and professional employees were identified as the groups that tended to be more likely to lodge a stress claim. In another study conducted by the Northwest Life Insurance Company (1991) in America, 35 percent of those interviewed said that their job was extremely
or very stressful and 26 percent said that their job was the greatest stressor in their life. This study also found that the incidence of stress-related disabilities had doubled from 6 percent to 13 percent between 1982 and 1991.
In line with these trends, Australia has also witnessed a significant rise in reports of occupational stress, in both the private and public sectors. Indeed, one of the most visible costs of occupational stress is that associated with workers’ compensation claims (Toohey, 1993).
Although a relatively limited number of claims are related to workers who experience occupational stress, the cost of returning these individuals to the workplace is considerable.
This cost is mostly associated with the delay of lodgement and/or acceptance of claims, compounded by the potential chronicity of the condition (Kenny, 1998; Toohey, 1993). Other factors that can increase the cost of stress claims include the likelihood of misdiagnosis and the negative perception of key stakeholders such as employers, co-workers, and rehabilitation providers that hinder appropriate treatment (Kenny, 1995a; Kenny, Kable, Kroon, Quinn &
Edwards, 1999).
Of further interest is the conceptualization offered by Lazarus (1991) who postulated that occupational stress is a process, involving a transaction between an individual and his or her work environment. The worker’s response to work stress can be either psychological, physical or both (Cooper & Cartwright, 1994; Kristensen, 1996; Santos & Cox, 2000), and is usually categorized as being either acute, post traumatic, or chronic.
Acute Stress
The term ‘acute’ refers to sudden onset. Stress of this nature usually involves a rapid response to an abrupt, single, easily identified cause that will often respond positively to some form of intervention (Guyton, 1981; Schuler, 1980). In an acute stress response situation, a person’s arousal state (anxiety) will rise sharply and then start to decline. For example, a person may experience acute stress in response to a negative situation such as abuse, an unexpected bereavement, conflict in the workplace (i.e., being involved in a dispute with a customer or a co-worker), commencing a new position, the introduction of new procedures, or awaiting renewal of a contract. In this acute phase, there is an increased sense of arousal that can produce physiological responses such as a dry mouth, diarrhea, heart palpitations or cognitive problems (Guyton, 1981). For the majority of people who experience an acute stress response, return to ‘normal’ life within a short time period is expected.
Post-Traumatic Stress
When events in the workplace are life-threatening (i.e., as can be experienced among military personnel, police, fire fighters, paramedics, service workers exposed to armed robberies, or workers involved in large-scale disasters and accidents), a more ongoing form of stress response can develop, namely post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Anshel, 2000;
Humphrey, 1998; Paton, 1999; Pflanz, 1999). Post-traumatic stress disorder develops as a delayed and/or deferred response to an acute stressful event or situation (either short or long lasting). This event usually has a particularly threatening or catastrophic nature, with the potential to cause pervasive distress in almost anyone (World Health Organisation - WHO, 1992). This stress response is usually unremitting. Anxiety and depression are often associated with PTSD, and suicidal ideation is not infrequent. Other commonly cited co-morbidity conditions arising from PTSD include panic disorder, anti-social personality disorder, substance abuse and agoraphobia (Green, Lindy, Grace, Leonard, 1992; Keane & Wolf, 1990;
WHO, 1992).
In simple terms, PTSD develops following stressors of traumatic intensity. These traumatic events are likely to include, but are not limited to, torture, sexual abuse/rape, a serious life- threatening accident, combat, human-made disasters, or the witnessing of a violent act (Alzono, 2000; Humphrey, 1998). According to Koopman, Classen, and Spiegel (1994) and Tomb (1994), PTSD can be considered present if subsequent events trigger intrusive distressing recollections. It can also be considered if the individual experiences repeated dreams about the event, a numbing of responses, avoidance of activities or situations reminiscent of the trauma, and sensitivity to stimuli of the original traumatic event. It is important to note that according to current diagnostic guidelines (American Psychological Association - APA, 1994), PTSD is not usually diagnosed unless there is evidence that it has developed within six months of a traumatic event of exceptional severity. However, a diagnosis may be possible if the delay between the event and the onset was longer than six months, provided no alternative diagnosis (i.e., anxiety, depressive episode or obsessive-compulsive disorder) is likely and the clinical manifestations are typical of PTSD (e.g., intrusive recollections, dreams, sensitivity to stimuli) (WHO, 1992).
Chronic Stress
Unlike the major events that are thought to precipitate acute stress or post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic stress is a cumulative reaction to a build-up of pressures over a long period of time. This type of response tends to begin gradually and proceed slowly. Chronic stress is best defined as an ongoing internal reaction to external circumstances when the ability to cope with those circumstances is impeded (Evoy, 1998). Unlike acute stress where a return to normality is expected within a fairly short period of time, chronic stress usually manifests itself in various ongoing physical and/or psychological symptoms such as hypertension, sleep disturbances, coronary heart disease, stroke, poor concentration, withdrawal and depression (Cooper & Payne, 1988; Minter, 1999). Moreover, chronic stress may, over time, lead to a weakening of the immune system. Indeed, it is not unusual for a person to experience prolonged symptoms of illness but be unaware that chronic stress is the cause (Guyton, 1981).
In recent years, there has been a recognition of the fact that cumulative adversity can be equally important as acute traumatic incidents in the development of stress-related conditions (Alonzo, 2000). This conclusion supports the early findings of Lazarus and his colleagues (1977) that
‘daily hassles’ were more powerful predictors of poor mental health than significant life events.
The ongoing occurrence of irritating or frustrating demands wears down or overwhelms an individual’s coping capacity. While there is little doubt as to what constitutes an acute traumatic stressor, these chronic work characteristics are more difficult to define, creating significant problems for management and research.
COVID-19 has exponentially spread across all continents in a matter of months (Yıldırım et al., 2020). According to statistics published by World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2020), globally, as of August 4, 2020, there have been more than 18,142,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 691,000 deaths, affecting 212 countries and territories. With a high rate of infection and deaths, COVID-19 can lead to many psychological problems including stress, anxiety, depression, fear (Arslan, Yıldırım, Tanhan, et al., 2020) and possibly burnout. To prevent such psychological problems, it is important to understand the factors that are associated with individuals’ experience of stress and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, understanding the role of character strengths like resilience in explaining the underlying mechanism between stress and burnout could also be important.
Recent research has shown that people quarantined experienced various psychological problems such as stress, fear, and frustrations (Brooks et al., 2020). Thus far, uncertainty
continues concerning when and how the virus will end despite the ease of COVID-19 measures like wearing a face mask in public places and keeping social distancing. Thus, uncertainty related to the COVID-19 and the duration of staying at home has caused significant changes in our daily life routines. Such changes in daily life caused by
COVID-19 has the potential to increase the levels of stress, anxiety, burnout, fear, and frustration (Arslan, Yıldırım, Tanhan, et al., 2020; Talaee et al., 2020). Stressful life situations have significant adverse effects on the mental health and psychological functioning of a person and lead to psychological problems such as anxiety, mental confusion, social deprivation, and depression (Yildirim & Arslan, 2020). The Transactional Model of Stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) defined stress as “constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of a person”. According to the model, people respond to the same stressor differently due to individual differences including social, emotional, and psychological factors. COVID- 19 has adversely affected the psychological health of individuals by leading to stress, anxiety, panic disorders, and behavioral problems (Yildirim & Arslan, 2020). A study conducted on the general public in China reported that the prevalence rates of psychological distress like stress and anxiety are substantially high (more than 25%) during COVID-19 pandemic (Qiu et al., 2020). Excessive stress can result in a wide range of psychosocial and mental health problems such as anxiety, affective disorders, and burnout, and understanding how COVID-19 pandemic leads to one’s reactions to stressful situations (and vice versa) can be important to develop effective and meaningful interventions (Marcinko et al., 2020). Despite the detrimental impacts of stress on psychological health, individual differences in psychological strengths can reduce the negative effects of stress on psychological health (Ryan & Deci, 2001).
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged as a devastating pandemic of unprecedented magnitude pushing the world into a looming health crisis. While the physical implications of this infectious disease are apparent, it is undeniable that the condition also holds the potential for mediating negative socioeconomic and psychological implications.1 Across the globe, it has substantially been established by now that the mental health problems are on the rise through the COVID-19 pandemic.2–7 Hossain et al. reviewed the mental health outcomes of no pharmaceutical preventive interventions such as quarantine and reported depression, anxiety, insomnia, and mood disorders among isolated individuals.8 A few of the many stressors leading to mental health concerns among the general population in the COVID-19 era are fear of infection, financial depletion, deficient supplies, and stigmatization.9 Suicidal tendencies among COVID-19-affected individuals are also reported.10 Another important concern is the impact of COVID-19 on the psychological well-being of healthcare workers (HCW). Around the world, the health systems are under tremendous pressure catering to the needs of an ever-increasing number of COVID-19 cases. The situation demands HCW to work for longer periods in settings different from their regular work while staying away from their families and dealing with an infectious disease with a lot of uncertainties around. This context reflects the possibility of mental health concerns such as fear of infection, the guilt of providing suboptimal care, burnout, insomnia, anxiety, and depression among HCW.11–15 It has to be acknowledged here that mental health is a broad construct encompassing emotional, psychological, and social dimensions, making it an elusive construct to measure. Though diagnostic interviews were identified to be the gold standard and definitive diagnostic ways for appraisal of mental health status, the amount of time they consume precludes their application in conventional health settings, especially when the assessment has to be made at a mass level.
It is for this reason that the reliance on screening tools for measuring mental health status has increased over the years.16 During the COVID-19 pandemic, new scales have been validated
to assess the COVID-19-related mental health problems. A preliminary scan of the existing COVID-19 psychometric scales revealed that the focus predominantly had been placed on COVID-19-related fear and anxiety. However, drawing on the suggestions made by experts that the psychological implications of COVID-19 are manifold, tools that comprehensively capture COVID-19-related mental health concerns are warranted. The present scoping review, therefore, was conducted to address any existing knowledge gap and in order to provide a condensation of the available scales assessing COVID-19-related mental health problems.
3. Methodology
Research Design
This study utilized quantitative approach method. To meet the objective of the study, a descriptive research is used to describe the situation or given statement of affair in terms of specified aspect of factor (David,2002).
Locale of the Study
The study was conducted in Iloilo Province, which covers commercialized business of fast food service crews with in area of the locality.
Figure 1: Locator Map of Iloilo Province
Respondents of the Study
The main respondents of the study are the two hundred thirty five (235) restaurant fast food workers in the province of Iloilo, the respondents were purposively selected in the different fast food restaurant in the province of Iloilo. They were primarily involved as the main respondents.
Data Gathering Procedure
The data is gathered with written permission from the Food Service Restaurant and workers.
Also, ethical consideration is observed in gathering data with the consent of the respondents is obtained to give specific instruction to answer the questionnaire, all data gathered will be kept confidential and purposely for research investigation in the study.
Data Analysis Procedure
In the course of the analysis of data gathered, five (5) Likert Scale is used for data interpretation.
For statistical purposes, numerical weights were respectively assigned to the responses as follows:
For the stress assessment for Stress Working Condition, Occupational Stress, Stress related Hazards at Work COVID-19 Pandemic.
Stress Working Condition Occupational Stress Stress related Hazards
Response Response Response Weight
Never Rarely Not at all 5
Almost Never Occasionally Slightly 4
Sometimes Sometimes Moderately 3
Fairly Often Fairly Often Very 2
Very Often Very Often Extremely 1
The following descriptive levels based on arbitrary scaling is employed:
Mean Range Description
4.51 - 5.00 High
3.51 – 4.50 Moderately High
2.51 – 3.50 Average
1.51 – 2.50 Moderately Low
1.00 – 1.50 Low
Statistical Tools to Be Used
The statistical tools to be used are the following:
For the stress assessment for Stress Working Condition, Occupational Stress, Stress related Hazards at Work COVID-19 Pandemic statistical tools be used are:
Mean. Implies average and it is the sum of a set of data divided by the number of data. Mean can prove to be an effective tool when comparing different sets of data; however, this method might be disadvantage by the impact of extreme values.
Standard Deviation. Is a statistical that measures the dispersion of a dataset relative to mean and is calculated as the square root of variance by determining each data points are further from the mean, there is a higher deviation within the data set; thus, the more spread out the data set, the higher the standard deviation.
For the Wellness Stress and Active Coping Stress statistical tools be used are:
Frequency. Statistics simply count the numbers of times that each variable occurs within the sample. Measures of central tendency give one number that represents the entire set of scores, such as the mean. Will be used to find out the number of responses to each item in the questionnaire and also the number of respondents in each category of variable used in the study.
Percentage. Figures are derived by dividing one quantity by another with the latter rebased to 100. Percentages are symbolized by %. Besides being especially useful when making
comparisons, they come in handy for studying a difference compared with a benchmark or initial value.
Rank.
Research Instrument
Construction of the Questionnaire. In gathering data needed for the research investigation, on the assessment of Stress Working Condition, Occupational Stress, Stress related Hazards at Work, the researcher utilized a modified questionnaire stress assessment questionnaire adopted from various resources from stress management research studies and for the Wellness Stress and Active Coping Stress. COVID-19 Stress Scale is also utilized in this study.
4. Conclusion
Job stress on service personnel is mainly influenced by unsatisfied with the job, lack of commitment to the work, and poorly managed organization. Particularly, by monitoring workload and supervisor-subordinate relationships may reduce stress and increase job satisfaction and commitment to the organization on this pandemic of COVID-19, the Management focuses on the health protocol and guidelines to continue its business in the area but on the mental health and health related issues like stress encountered by the service crew employees had a less concentration in the part of the management issues.
In order to control the employee’s job stress, managers and restaurant operators should highlight the variable that most influence to job stress. With the retention of committed employees, the organization could rely on them to achieve the company’s goals and targets and stay competitive within the industry. Interactions between individuals in the organization could improve their sense of belonging. The more staff that identify themselves with the company’s goals, the more benefits gained by the organization as a result of the committed employees’
positive working attitude.
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