#0047 Psychosocial and occupational factors associated with low back pain among nurses in Saudi Arabia
Could Stress and Job Satisfaction Be Related to Lower Back Pain among Nurses?
Lower back pain (LBP) is a common problem that sits in the top 10 conditions contributing to disease and disability. Nurses are more likely to suffer from LBP than the average person because of the nature of their work; in fact, researchers have shown that LBP is the main cause for absenteeism among nurses.
However, despite LBP being such a common issue, its association with psychosocial factors such as work-related stress and personal experiences is not very clear. Few studies on this topic have been conducted worldwide, but no study has been conducted in Saudi Arabia, even though about 75% of nurses in the capital city of Riyadh suffer from LBP.
Considering the serious and far-reaching consequences that LBP has on the lives of nurses, we decided to conduct a cross-sectional study to clarify what psychosocial factors are most strongly associated to LBP. We surveyed 427 nurses from 16 hospitals in Riyadh and performed statistical analyses on their answers to our questionnaire.
Of the nurses surveyed, we found that 80% suffered from LBP. Most importantly, we determined that work-related stress, frequent lifting, and lack of job satisfaction were significantly and independently associated with LBP. Even though the causes behind lack of job satisfaction and work-related stress may vary greatly among nurses in different hospitals, our study shows that understanding the mechanisms by which they contribute to chronic physical pain in nurses should become a priority in occupational health research.
We believe that hospital managers should take measures to reduce stress in the workplace and ensure their nurses are more satisfied with their job; this would not only improve their quality of life, but also increase their overall job attendance and performance.
Moreover, more attention should be given to ergonomic training to prevent LBP caused by inappropriate lifting of heavy weights. Hopefully, introducing these changes will result in the reduction of LBP occurrence among nurses.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1348-9585.12126
Title of the paper:
Psychosocial and occupational factors associated with low back pain among nurses in Saudi Arabia
Authors:
Hoda Jradi, Hajjah Alanazi, and Yousef Mohammad
