Work and Health: A Review of Methodologies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71164/socialmedicine.v18i3.2025.2007Keywords:
Working conditions, work, health and well-being, methodology, toolsAbstract
Considering the significance of work, not merely as an isolated determinant, but also in relation to other axes of vulnerability, it is crucial to examine our current understanding of how working conditions impact health and how these effects manifest. To explore this, a review of 52 studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) after the 1990s was carried out. This review aimed to assess the methodologies used to explore the relationship between working conditions and health, as well as identify potential directions for future research. Forty percent (n=25) of the studies included in this review focused on the working conditions and health status of garment factory workers, the majority of whom were women. Of these, most studies (n=21) employed a cross-sectional design and utilized quantitative data collection methods. The health outcomes measured included the prevalence of mental health issues such as depression, stress, and anxiety, as well as occupational accidents and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). These MSDs were characterized by physical symptoms such as pain, stiffness, aching, burning, tingling, numbness, allergies, upset stomach, weakness, fatigue, exhaustion, hearing problems, respiratory issues, and hypertension, among others. Studies using qualitative research methods are scarce. Given the complex relationship between health and work, it is crucial to generate everyday knowledge about health, grounded in the interactions and interpretations of individuals within their social context. Therefore, more qualitative studies are needed to explore how different aspects of work influence workers’ health. Additionally, these studies can help clarify the intricate relationship between working conditions and health outcomes
References
Burgard, S. A., & Lin, K. Y. (2013). Bad jobs, bad health? How work and working conditions contribute to health disparities. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(8), 1105-1127.
Flynn, M. A. (2018). Im/migration, work, and health: anthropology and the occupational health of laborim/migrants. Anthropology of work review: AWR, 39(2), 116.
Farmer PE, Nizeye B, Stulac S, Keshavjee S. (2006). Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine. PLoS Med 3(10): e449. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030449
Mantouvalou, V. (2016). Workers without Rights as Citizens at the Margins. In The Margins of Citizenship (pp. 48-64). Routledge.
Mishra, A., Joseph, R., Gangadhara, M., & Lobo, R. (2023). Body as machine: Health vulnerability of women garment factory workers in India. SSM-Qualitative Research in Health, 4, 100301.
Commission on Social Determinants of Health. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health: final report of the commission on social determinants of health. World Health Organization.
Benavides FG, Wesseling C, Delclos GL, Felknor S, Pinilla J, Rodrigo F. Working conditions and health in Central America: a survey of 12 024 workers in six countries. Occupational and environmental medicine. 2014 Jul 1;71(7):459-65.
Blattman C, Dercon S. The impacts of industrial and entrepreneurial work on income and health: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 2018 Jul 1;10(3):1-38.
Arsalani N, Fallahi-Khoshknab M, Ghaffari M, Josephson M, Lagerstrom M. Adaptation of questionnaire measuring working conditions and health problems among Iranian nursing personnel. Asian nursing research. 2011 Sep 1;5(3):177-82.
Giatti L, Barreto SM, César CC. Household context and self-rated health: the effect of unemployment and informal work. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 2008 Dec 1;62(12):1079-85.
Silva AA, Souza JM, Borges FN, Fischer FM. Health-related quality of life and working conditions among nursing providers. Revista de SaúdePública. 2010;44:718-25.
Merino-Salazar P, Artazcoz L, Cornelio C, Iñiguez MJ, Rojas M, Martínez-Iñigo D, Vives A, Funcasta L, Benavides FG. Work and health in Latin America: results from the working conditions surveys of Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Central America and Uruguay. Occupational and environmental medicine. 2017 Jun 1;74(6):432-9.
Cook EA, de Glanville WA, Thomas LF, Kariuki S, Bronsvoort BM, Fèvre EM. Working conditions and public health risks in slaughterhouses in western Kenya. BMC public health. 2017 Dec;17:1-2.
Bostan S, Akbolat M, Kaya A, Ozata M, Gunes D. Assessments of anxiety levels and working conditions of health employees working in COVİD-19 pandemic hospitals. 2020.
Ruiz ME, Vives A, Martínez-Solanas È, Julià M, Benach J. How does informal employment impact population health? Lessons from the Chilean employment conditions survey. Safety science. 2017 Dec 1;100:57-65.
Akhter S, Rutherford S, Chu C. Sewing shirts with injured fingers and tears: exploring the experience of female garment workers health problems in Bangladesh. BMC international health and human rights. 2019 Dec;19:1-9.
Akhter S, Rutherford S, Chu C. Sufferings in silence: Violence against female workers in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh: A qualitative exploration. Women's Health. 2019 Dec;15:1745506519891302.
Lombardo SR, Vijitha de Silva P, Lipscomb HJ, Østbye T. Musculoskeletal symptoms among female garment factory workers in Sri Lanka. International journal of occupational and environmental health. 2012 Jan 1;18(3):210-9.
Suraweera IK, Wijesinghe SD, Senanayake SJ, Herath HD, Jayalal TA. Occupational health issues in small-scale industries in Sri Lanka: An underreported burden. Work. 2016 Oct 17;55(2):263-9.
Singh S. Richer Bosses, Poorer Workers, Bangalore’s Garment Industry. Published by CIVIDEP and SOMO. 2009 Jul.
Dutta M. ‘Becoming’Factory Workers: understanding women’s geographies of work through life stories in Tamil Nadu, India. Gender, Place & Culture. 2019 Jun 3;26(6):888-904.
Dutta M. Becoming ‘active labour protestors’: women workers organizing in India’s garment export factories. Globalizations. 2021 Nov 17;18(8):1420-35.
Garimella S. Agency and contingency: working women in Delhi, India (Doctoral dissertation, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences). 2009.
Jenkins J, Blyton P. In debt to the time-bank: the manipulation of working time in Indian garment factories and ‘working dead horse’. Work, employment and society. 2017 Feb;31(1):90-105.
Shazzad MN, Ahmed S, Haq SA, Islam MN, Abu Shahin M, Choudhury MR, Hasan AT, Abdal SJ, Rasker JJ. Musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders among 350 garment workers in Bangladesh: A cross‐sectional pilot study. International journal of rheumatic diseases. 2018 Dec;21(12):2063-70.
Girish N, Ramachandra K, Arun G M, Asha K. Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among cashew factory workers. Archives of environmental & occupational health. 2012 Jan 1;67(1):37-42.
Nabi MH, Kongtip P, Woskie S, Nankongnab N, Sujirarat D, Chantanakul S. Factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders among female readymade garment workers in Bangladesh: a comparative study between OSH compliant and non-compliant factories. Risk management and healthcare policy. 2021 Mar 15:1119-27.
Khan NR, Dipti TR, Ferdousi SK, Hossain MZ, Ferdousi S, Sony SA, Zafrin N, Paul N, Islam MS. Occupational health hazards among workers of garment factories in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Journal of Dhaka Medical College. 2015;24(1):36-43.
Tadesse T, Kumie A. Prevalence and factors affecting work-related injury among workers engaged in Small and Medium-scale industries in Gondar wereda, North Gondor zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. Ethiopian journal of health development. 2007 Sep 13;21(1):25-34.
Attanapola CT. Multiple voices, multiple realities: female industrial workers' health in Sri Lanka. NorskGeografiskTidsskrift-Norwegian Journal of Geography. 2003 Jan 1;57(3):154-63.
Attanapola CT. Changing gender roles and health impacts among female workers in export-processing industries in Sri Lanka. Social science & medicine. 2004 Jun 1;58(11):2301-12.
Akhter S, Rutherford S, Chu C. What makes pregnant workers sick: why, when, where and how? An exploratory study in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh. Reproductive health. 2017 Dec;14:1-9.
Paul-Majumder P. Health impact of women's wage employment: a case study of the garment industry of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Development Studies. 1996 Mar 1:59-102.
Parvin K, Mamun MA, Gibbs A, Jewkes R, Naved RT. The pathways between female garment workers’ experience of violence and development of depressive symptoms. PloS one. 2018 Nov 15;13(11):e0207485.
Zele YT, Kumie A, Deressa W, Bråtveit M, Moen BE. Registered health problems and demographic profile of integrated textile factory workers in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2021 Dec;21:1-5.
Absar SS. Health hazards and labour Laws in Bangladesh: a narrative-based study on women garment workers. Asian Journal of Social Science. 2003 Jan 1;31(3):452-77.
Steinisch M, Yusuf R, Li J, Rahman O, Ashraf HM, Strümpell C, Fischer JE, Loerbroks A. Work stress: Its components and its association with self-reported health outcomes in a garment factory in Bangladesh—Findings from a cross-sectional study. Health & place. 2013 Nov 1;24:123-30.
Dreher A, Yusuf R, Ashraf H, Ahmed SA, Gao W, Strümpell C, Loerbroks A. Workplace stressors and their association with hair cortisol concentrations among ready-made garment workers in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Occupational Health. 2023 Jan;65(1):e12426.
Can B. The gendered workplaces of women garment workers in Istanbul. Reproductive Health Matters. 2017 Oct 27;25(sup1):47-55.
Mahmud MS, Mahmud R, Jahan M. Health Issues of Female Garment Workers: Evidence from Bangladesh. Journal of Population & Social Studies. 2018 Jul 1;26(3).
Mani M, Prathibha R. Feminisation of work and health care: Occupational health needs and access to the ESI corporation for Karnataka garment workers. Institute of Public Policy, National Law School of India University. 2019.
Saha TK, Dasgupta A, Butt A, Chattopadhyay O. Health status of workers engaged in the small-scale garment industry: how healthy are they?. Indian Journal of Community Medicine. 2010 Jan 1;35(1):179-82.
Shanbhag D, Joseph B. Mental health status of female workers in private apparel manufacturing industry in Bangalore city, Karnataka, India. International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health. 2012 Dec 1;4(12):1893.
Smith C, Sokhey L, Tijamo CF, McLaren M, Free C, Watkins J, Amra O, Masuda C, Oreglia E. Development of an intervention to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia: a qualitative study. BMJ open. 2021 Nov 1;11(11):e049254.
Asia Floor Wage Alliance.Fact-finding Report into Labour Violations at Shahi Factory, Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, India. 2022.
Borges LD, Motta GM, Garcia-Primo GM, Barros SC, Heleno CT. Working conditions and mental health in a Brazilian university. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2023 Jan 14;20(2):1536.
Fernandes TF, Lima CC, Silva PL, Rossi-Barbosa LA, Pinho LD, Caldeira AP. Working conditions and mental health of community health workers in the COVID-19 pandemic. Ciência&SaúdeColetiva. 2023 Oct 23;28:2931-40.
Cruvinel VR, Marques CP, Cardoso V, Novaes MR, Araújo WN, Angulo-Tuesta A, Escalda PM, Galato D, Brito P, Da Silva EN. Health conditions and occupational risks in a novel group: waste pickers in the largest open garbage dump in Latin America. BMC public health. 2019 Dec;19:1-5.
Arabian A, Omidi L, Bakhshi E, Ghanbari A, Torabinassaj E, Zakerian SA. Assessment of occupational safety, health, and ergonomics issues in agriculture in some cities of Iran. Work. 2020 Jan 1;65(1):89-96.
Yalew ES, Adem KS, Kibret AK, Gashaw M. Low back pain and its determinants among wait staff in Gondar town, north West Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Pain Research. 2022 Sep 6;3:964297.
Caglayan C, Hamzaoglu O, Yavuz CI, Yüksel S. Working conditions and health status of child workers: Cross‐sectional study of the students at an apprenticeship school in Kocaeli. Pediatrics International. 2010 Feb;52(1):6-12.
Alam MU, Sharior F, Shoaib DM, Hasan M, Tabassum KF, Ferdous S, Hasan M, Rahman M, Tidwell JB, Zaqout M, Farah M. Hygiene knowledge and practices and determinants of occupational safety among waste and sanitation workers in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hygiene and Environmental Health Advances. 2022 Dec 1;4:100022.
Pinto CM, Radon K, Van Dijk F. Violence at work and mental distress among firefighters in Guatemala. Annals of global health. 2018;84(3):532.
Chen IM, Lin TY, Chien YL, Chen JY, Chan JH, Liao SC, Kuo PH, Chen HC. The associations between working conditions and subjective sleep quality among female migrant care workers. Frontiers in Public Health. 2023 Apr 14;11:1094513.
Rocha LE, Debert-Ribeiro M. Working conditions, visual fatigue, and mental health among systems analysts in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2004 Jan 1;61(1):24-32.
Swaminathan P. Precarious existence and deteriorating work conditions for women in India: Implications for health. New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. 2007 Aug;17(2):57-69.
Da Luz AA, Vergueiro da Silva MC, Turte SL, Lopes MD, Fischer FM. Effects of working full-time and studying in the evening hours among young apprentices and trainees. Human factors. 2012 Dec;54(6):952-63.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
