Shift work: Impact on sleep, family and social life, and satisfaction with work schedule

Abstract

Shift work, especially work done during night hours or valued periods of time from the social and family point of view, has been associated with added difficulties for the workers, in terms of health, family, and social life. The present study has as its main objective to contribute to the understanding of how shift work affects health through perturbation of the sleeping pattern and its implications for social and family life, and the evaluation of the respective work schedule. In total, 373 male textile workers participated in the study. They were distributed in three shifts: morning, afternoon, and night. Results have shown that night shift workers presented the most problems at the sleep level, and were less satisfied with their work schedule. On the other hand, from the family and social perspectives, morning shift workers were the most satisfied.