Visual Display Terminal use in Iranian bank tellers: Effects on job stress and insomnia

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Visual Display Terminals (VDTs) are equipments in many workplaces which their use may increase the risk of visual, musculoskeletal and mental problems including insomnia.

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the relationship between duration of daily VDT use and insomnia among the Iranian bank tellers.

METHODS:

We randomly selected 382 bank tellers working with VDT. Quality of sleep and stress information were collected by Athens Insomnia Scales (AIS) and Demand-Control Model (DCM) model respectively.

RESULTS:

Out of 382 participants, 127 (33.2%) had sleep complaints and 255 (66.8%) had no sleep disorders. Moreover, the insomnia symptoms’ score were significantly high in the participants having more than 6 hours of daily VDT use after adjusting for multiple confounding factors (P <  0.001). There was no significant relationship between stress and insomnia.

CONCLUSIONS:

It seems that the low levels of stress and job satisfaction reduce the impact of VDT on sleep quality in tellers who worked less than 6 hours per day.