Stress and coping mechanisms among workers of the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Headquarters, in Ghana

Abstract

Occupational stress is an ever increasing public health hazard and an occupational risk factor. There is a growing concern around the world that, people work harder and longer while injury and illness rates associated with occupational stress continue to grow. The study examined levels of stress and coping mechanisms adopted by workers of the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) at the headquarters in Accra. A sample of 56 out of 59 staff at the PRAAD headquarters in Accra was considered for the study. The standard questionnaire used, was adapted from the works of Barone, Caddy, Katell, Roselione and Hamilton (1988) on stress inventory as well as coping inventory from Folkman and Lazarus (1980). From the study, the older and the young, the married and unmarried and both male and female staff of PRAAD were found to experience almost the same level of stress, but females were better copers of stress than their male counterparts. The study also revealed that the highly educated records staff of PRAAD experienced lower stress levels compared to their counterparts who were not highly educated. Generally, all workers of PRAAD faced some level stress. The study recommended that institutions like PRAAD should endeavor to provide and pursue policies and programmes that eliminate work-induced stress and create conducive environment for employees whilst employees also compliments these by making effort to reduce personal stressors by adopting scientific coping strategies in order to enhance their well being and productivity in the workplace