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Psychosocial work factors, physical work load and associated musculoskeletal symptoms among home care workers
Author(s) -
JOHANSSON JAN Å
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1995.tb00973.x
Subject(s) - psychosocial , physical therapy , occupational safety and health , work (physics) , medicine , work environment , human factors and ergonomics , relative risk , psychology , poison control , job satisfaction , psychiatry , environmental health , social psychology , mechanical engineering , confidence interval , pathology , engineering
This study was based on a questionnaire and included a group of home care workers (HCW) (n = 305) and a reference group of municipal employees (n = 694). The relationship between the work environment and musculoskeletal symptoms was analysed. The HCW were less satisfied with their control over their work and stimulus from their work and had a higher physical work load and prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms, compared with the reference group. The Rate Ratio (RR) of neck and shoulder symptoms among HCW was 83 and 54 %, respectively, higher among those reporting a “high” psychological work load compared with those reporting a “low” load. The highest RR for a single risk indicator was 2.5, and this concerned low‐back symptoms among HCW who often worked with twisted postures. A combination of “poor” psychosocial work environment and “high” physical work load produced the highest RR for work‐related neck (RR = 2.57) and shoulder (RR = 2.13) symptoms.