Quality of life, lifestyle, and working environment of women in the footwear industry
Open accessAbstract
INTRODUCTION: The footwear industry uses glue and other organic solvents (such as ethyl acetate, acetone, xylene, and toluene) in its manufacturing process; these substances, when associated with an inadequate working environment, can potentialize health problems and interfere with the perception of quality of life by female workers. OBJECTIVES: To verify the quality of life of women working in the footwear industry and its association with the self-reported morbidities of these workers, their working environment, and lifestyle habits. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study, with a quantitative approach, developed with 120 women shoemakers in the city of Franca, state of São Paulo. For evaluating quality of life, we used the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument. RESULTS: The most common self-reported morbidities were anxiety (65%), stress (62.5%), irritability (49.2%), sleep alterations (35.8%), fatigue (30%), and muscle cramps (30%). The physical domain presented the highest mean score (68.0), followed by the psychological (67.1) and social relationships domains (66.4). Environment was the domain with the lowest mean score (53.5). Quality of life was associated with the following self-reported morbidities: muscle cramps (p = 0.010), breathing difficulty (p = 0.029), tingling in the upper limbs (p = 0.010), decline in manual skills and work capacity, and pain (p < 0.001); the physical domain was the most affected. We observed a statistically significant difference in mean physical domain scores (p = 0.006) of women who used personal protection equipment; noise in the workplace interfered with the social relationships domain (p = 0.019), while working position interfered with the social relationships (p = 0.021) and environment (0 = 0.047) domains. CONCLUSIONS: The self-reported morbidities reported here and some working conditions negatively interfered with the women's quality of life.
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A deficient work environment adversely influences general well-being and work aptitude, increasing the risk of accidents and diseases.
“Los estudios señalan que un entorno de trabajo deficiente influir de manera adversa en el bienestar general y en la aptitud de trabajo, incrementando el riesgo de accidentes y enfermedades [3], [19].”
From Impact of ergonomics on work performance in the manufacturing industry: A systematic review (2025) · cites this paper as [19]
The Conclusions state that the work environment negatively affected the footwear workers’ quality of life, and the Discussion links unsafe environments to low productivity and chronic disease. The paper also reports reduced work capacity, but does not establish that a deficient work environment caused it. Its Discussion associates a possible increase in accidents with prolonged combined work and household workloads, rather than with the work environment specifically. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredEnvironmental factors such as temperature, noise, and lighting conditions are determinants in fatigue and stress scales.
“Factores como la temperatura, el ruido y las condiciones lumínicas son considerados determinantes en las escalas de fatiga y estrés [18], [19], [20], [21].”
From Impact of ergonomics on work performance in the manufacturing industry: A systematic review (2025) · cites this paper as [19]
The Results (Tables 1 and 4; page unavailable) list fatigue and stress as self-reported morbidities and examine workplace noise against quality-of-life domains, not fatigue or stress scales. Searches for temperature, lighting, and environmental determinants of fatigue or stress found no passage establishing the claimed relationship. (LLM, conf=0.74)
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Research works printed but not linked: 19
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Impact of ergonomics on work performance in the manufacturing industry: A systematic review
Campos-Naval, J. E., Castañeda-López, V. A., & Aparicio-Ballena, J. A. (2025) · Proceedings of the 23rd LACCEI International Multi-Conference for Engineering, Education and Technology (LACCEI): "Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Sustainable Technologies in service of society" · doi:10.18687/laccei2025.1.1.802
- Authors
- Rios, L., Paggiaro, A. O., & Fernandes, R. A. Q.
- Affiliations
- Guarulhos University (BR)
- Venue
- Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho
- Publisher
- EDITORA SCIENTIFIC
- Published
- 2020
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 04
- Pages
- 390-398
- ISSN
- 1679-4435 (ISSN-L)
- 2447-0147
- PMC
- PMC7934172
- OpenAlex
- W3121288479
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Trabalho (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Keywords
- quality of life, footwear industry, women's employment, shoemakers, occupational health, work environment, lifestyle habits, self-reported morbidity, stress and anxiety, organic solvents, adhesives, personal protective equipment, workplace noise, work posture, muscle cramps, WHOQOL-BREF
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