Loughborough University
Browse
- No file added yet -

A qualitative study exploring how city bus drivers manage sleepiness and fatigue

Download (787.42 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2020-08-27, 10:16 authored by Fran Pilkington-Cheney, Ashleigh FiltnessAshleigh Filtness, Cheryl Haslam
Sleepiness is an important consideration for workplace safety, especially in relation to shift work. There is limited understanding of how practical applications of countermeasures are used to manage sleepiness in a professional setting. One under researched group is city bus drivers. This qualitative study investigated the use of individual sleepiness countermeasures within a sample of city bus drivers. Nine semistructured focus groups were convened to explore the broader experience and management of sleepiness (n = 62, largest proportion aged 45-54 y, mean bus driving experience 13.3 y). The conversations of the focus groups were audio recorded (total: 682 min) and transcribed anonymously verbatim. Discussions specifically relating to personal countermeasure use were isolated from the original transcripts, creating nine new transcripts for a targeted analysis on the topic of individual countermeasure use. Thematic analysis identified two main themes: (1) strategies used to counteract sleepiness and (2) barriers to individual countermeasure use, each with several subthemes. A variety of countermeasures were used, including strategies with limited potential for counteracting sleepiness, such as opening a window, drinking water, talking, stretching, and consuming forms of sugar. Workplace restrictions, such as access to facilities, limitations of food/drink consumption, and tight schedules, were the strongest influences on countermeasure choice. It is important that bus drivers have access to, and are aware of the effectiveness of, countermeasures to manage sleepiness during shift work. It is vital that the actions of drivers and shift workers are better understood in the planning of organizational countermeasures.

Funding

Transport for London [grant number 94050].

History

School

  • Design and Creative Arts
  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Department

  • Design

Published in

Chronobiology International

Volume

37

Issue

9-10

Pages

1502 - 1512

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Publisher statement

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Chronobiology International on 1 September 2020, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07420528.2020.1812623.

Acceptance date

2020-08-13

Publication date

2020-09-01

Copyright date

2020

ISSN

0742-0528

eISSN

1525-6073

Language

  • en

Depositor

Fran Pilkington-Cheney. Deposit date: 27 August 2020

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC