Dr. Rita Yusuf and Dr. Adrian Loerbroks Begin Research on the Physiological and Psychosocial Determinants of Work-Related Stress in a Ready-Made Garments Factory in Dhaka 
| | In February of 2011, Dr. Rita Yusuf, Dean of the School of Life Sciences at IUB and Dr. Adrian Loerbroks, Assistant Professor in the Mannheim Institute of Public Health (MIPH) at Heidelberg University, entered into a research agreement to study work-related stress in an RMG factory in Dhaka. The study, carried out under the auspices of the Center for Health, Population and Development, CHPD, at IUB, aims to examine whether survey instruments such as Siegrist’s Effort Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire used in western contexts can capture “work stress” as experienced by RMG workers in Bangladesh. The other essential biochemical aspect of the study will investigate whether “work stress” translates into higher hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA)-activity as determined by measurement of cortisol levels in hair samples collected from the subjects. This research project is part of a larger multi-country study within the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows” at Heidelberg University in Germany. From February to December, 2011, Drs. Yusuf and Loerbroks, along with other faculty members and students from both institutions, created and translated a pilot questionnaire, finalized sampling and survey administration protocols, and framed overall logistics for the study. In December 2011, IUB students Rakibul Islam, Warda Ashraf, and Nazmul Huda conducted a pilot study among RMG workers at a factory in Gulshan-2 in order to help optimize the final questionnaire and study/sampling protocols. The actual fieldwork consisted of a cross-sectional study among 542 RMG workers and was performed from February – April, 2012 by IUB School of Life Sciences faculty members and personnel Mr. Syed AK Shifat Ahmed, Senior Lecturer, Ms. Mariz Sintaha, Lecturer and Mr. Ashrafuzzaman Sapon, Lab Manager, and a doctoral student from Heidelberg Ms. Maria Steinisch. Ms. Tarannum Ferdous, a volunteer at IUB, was also intrinsically involved in survey administration. Initial findings from the questionnaire dataset were presented at an international workshop at Heidelberg University entitled “The Culture of Stress” in May, 2012. Biochemical analysis of hair samples will begin by August 2012 at a specialized laboratory in Germany.
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