ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the status of occupational low back pain among orthopedic nurses, and to investigate the influence of fear-avoidance belief on their work engagement.Methods:A convenient sample of 325 orthopedic nurses were recruited from one tertiary grade orthopedic hospital in Tianjin City. The data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire, which assessed nurses′ demographic information and their general condition of low back pain, the Chinese version of Fear-avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire, and the Chinese version of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale.Results:91.7%(298/325) of orthopedic nurses reported that they had occupational low back pain, and the mean score of fear-avoidance belief was 59.18±14.55, and the mean score of Utrecht work engagement was 40.40±17.49. Nearly 89.3% (266/298) of nurses with low back pain had low or moderate level of work engagement. There was a statistically significant relationship between fear-avoidance belief and work engagement ( r=-0.306, P<0.001). Hierarchical Regression Analysis showed that variables, including higher education, salary per month, sick-leave, quitting job and fear-avoidance belief influenced orthopedic nurses′ work engagement. Specifically, fear-avoidance belief independently can explain 23.6% variation of work engagement. Conclusions:Orthopedic nurses′ occupational low back pain is very common, and the level of work engagement of this population is moderate, and fear-avoidance belief can predict work engagement. This revealed that nursing managers are supposed to pay attention to orthopedic nurses′ occupational low back pain, adopting appropriate nursing interventions to reduce these nurses′ pain, to decrease their fear-avoidance belief, which then in turn strengthen the nurses′ work engagement.