The job of an engine driver appeared ideal for research studies because of its extremely high responsibility coupled with a high level of permanent concentration.

The main elements of the study focused on applying the EQ-5D (Quality of Life Questionnaire), SVF 78 (Stress Processing Questionnaire) and FBL-R (Freiburg Complaint List; revised version).

It turned out hat exactly fifty percent of all train drivers regret having chosen their job and judged their professional strain very high (p< 0.001). The SVF 78 reveals the following: persons of the First Group achieved much higher values in the scales regarding “escape” (p=0.029), “mental preoccupation after work” (p=0.003), “resignation” (p=0,011) and in the total amount of negative strategies (p=0.004), while Group 2 presents only higher values in the scale concerning the “playing down” (p=0.039) effect.

There were also a wide-ranging differences between the two groups, especially in the scales about “general state of health” (p< 0.001), “cardiovascular complaints” (p< 0.001), “pain” (p< 0.001), “sensory perception” (p< 0.001), “emotional reactivity” (p=0.001) and “total sum of complaints” (p< 0.001). The EQ-5D showed that train drivers who are content about the choice of their job judge their quality of life much higher than those regretting their choice (p< 0.001).

The results make clear that the dissatisfaction about the chosen job has negative effects on both the physical and psychological well-being.