ABSTRACT

Objective : This study was conducted to determine the emotional labor of occupational therapists and the level of their feelings of depression and to examine the impact of their emotional labor on their depressive mood. Methods : Subjects of this study were clinical occupational therapists working at hospitals and clinics in Seoul and Gyeonggi regions. The factors of emotional labor were set as independent variables, the general characteristic variable and job characteristic variable which showed significant results in the chi-square test was set as the adjusted variable and whether the depression happens or not was set as the dependent variable, after which a multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results : Components of emotional labor, including frequency of emotional display(OR 1.699, 95% CI 1.202-2.401), attentiveness to required display rules(OR 1.436, 95% CI 1.070-1.982), and emotional dissonance(OR 1.866, 95% CI 1.336-2.607) all had a significant effect on depression. The possibility of depression was significantly higher in women than men(OR 5.736, 95% CI 1.746-18.846), those working for more than 8 hours per day than less than 8 hours per day(OR 8.609, 95% CI 2.306-32.137), and those working with children than those working with adults(OR 4.249, 95% CI 1.668-10.824). Conclusion : This study revealed that the emotional labor that occupational therapists are exposed to while interacting with patients and their caregivers exerts an influence on their feelings of depression. This suggests the need for developing various preventive intervention programs designed to alleviate the depressive symptoms of occupational therapists and formulating appropriate policies.