Search

A study was made of health problems reported by data entry clerks working in two large data pools within the Québec Public Service Administration. In order to collect the data, 350 clerks answered a questionnaire, representing a return rate of 92. The results indicate that, in comparison with women in other occupations, the data entry clerks have a high rate of occurrence of psychiatric symptoms measured by the Ilfeid index as well as a high degree of use of overthecounter and prescription drugs. In addition, these two problems are more prevalent in fulltime clerks than in parttime clerks. The psychiatric symptoms appear related to the combined influence of two main factors work overload and the monotony of work specialization. A third factor, the quality of the relationships among workers in the pool, also seemed to affect the regular fulltime clerks.