Abstract:
A descriptive cross sectional study using cluster sampling with probability proportionate to
size. Study instrument was a self administered questionnaire (developed as an electronic
form with HTML) . It was observed that 55 percent of participants were doing extra duty
more than five hours per week. Only 5 percent of participants were paid for extra duty. The
prevalence of psychological distress (GHQ score 2: 6) among IT professionals was 41
percent. Excessive work load, lack of rewards, lack of opportunity to career development
and organizational decisions regarding dead lines were main stressors for majority of
participants in the study group. A lower proportion of participants were affected by stressors
like monotony, ambiguity, relationships with superiors/co-workers. There is a statistical
significant (p 0.001) association between psychological distress and work stress. Factors
associated with high level of work stress were age, marital status, employment status of
spouse, health problems, years of service at present organization, extra work hours and
weekend duty. Higher proportion of study sample preferred to adapt harmless coping
strategies but some have adapted harmful coping strategies like smoking (5 percent) and
alcohol (7 percent). Interventions like training programmes for stress management and
conducting awareness programmes for managers at IT Organizations can be recommended
to make IT field a more worker-friendly.
