The Development of a Work Stress Model for Air TrafficControllers in Indonesia

Abstract

The workload complexity experienced by and expected air traffic controllers (ATCs) causes psychological fatigue, engenders stressful conditions, and affectstheir quality of life. This study investigated the development of a model of psychological fatigue in ATCs in Indonesia, which affected their work stress levelsand quality of life. This cross-sectional, three-month study focused on 185 ATCs randomly selected from six AirNavs based on strata. The results indicated arelationship between work duration (p-value = 0.033) and stress on ATCs; additionally, a relationship between work time and the opportunity to meet personallife needs (p-value = 0.007) were found. Feelings of tiredness among ATCs manifested as a 'thirsty throat' feeling, and in saturation measurements, no respondents had experienced hypoxia in the two months of observation. Structural equation modeling showed that psychological fatigue had no direct effect onthe quality of life; however, it had an indirect and significant effect on work stress (p-value = 0.001). It can be concluded that the stress conditions experiencedby the ATCs have a palpable effect on feelings of fatigue and quality of life.