Musculoskeletal symptoms in the staff members of institutions for clients with severe physical and mental handicaps
Iversen, L.; Borch, E.; Sabroe, S.
Ugeskrift for Laeger 149(2): 110-114
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0041-5782 PMID: 2949411 Document Number: 303758
Work in the social and health sector may involve great physical stress for the staff in the form of heavy lifting, twisting, work in bent positions and direct traumata. In 1981 a cross-sectional investigation of the occupational environment was undertaken in 122 residential institutions with 320 departments in what was previously the Service for the Care of the Mentally Retarded. A total of 1,786 of the staff completed a questionnaire about their condition of health including symptoms from the musculoskeletal system and on social and occupational conditions. 77% replied. Where each department was concerned, the leader completed a questionnaire about the residents in the department, the staff and the physical facilities, 95% replied. The physical stress in the work was measured by the number of residents who were confined to wheel chairs in each department. The bivariate analyses showed a significant dose-response-like connection between the prevalence of four different symptoms in the musculoskeletal system (symptoms from arms, legs, upper back or nuchal region and low back symptoms) and the degree of physical stress in the department. This relationship was still present when the logistic regression was adjusted for differences in composition of the staff in the departments such as sex, age, seniority in the actual department and seniority in this type of institution. Bias in selection and information were not considered to be the cause of the dose-response-like connection.