Occupational stress and low-back pain in nurses

ABSTRACT

Low-back pain is an important health and socio-economic problem. It signifies not only high prevalence and incidence but also important consequences such as disability, heavy expenses and absenteeism. Low-back pain is associated with occupational, psychological and physical factors. As compared with other occupations, nursing is ranked the highest risk for it. The prevalence of low-back pain in nurses was reported 43% to 76% during 12 months. This case-control study was conducted to determine association between occupational stress and low-back pain. 160 nurses were selected by convenience sampling and randomly divided into two equal case and control groups from five teaching hospitals of Shaheed Beheshti Medical University in Tehran. Case group was regarded as those subjects who had experienced low-back pain in 12 months. Control group was considered as those subjects who had experienced no low-back pain in the same period. A questionnaire consisted of 3 sections including demographic information, history of low-back pain and of occupational stress was used for data collection. Data regarding occupational stress was obtained by modified nursing-stress scale which was translated into Persian language. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were determined by content validity and test-retest method [0.91] respectively. Finding indicated that an association existed between low-back pain and occupational stress. A relation also existed between low-back pain and working hours per month. Statistical tests showed no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, gender, marital status, parity, gravidity, smoking, exercise, work shift, and clinical experience. The majority of nurses [45%] had a high level of occupational stress. Mean stress scores were 61.12 and 54.45 in case and control groups respectively. The major finding of this study was that an association existed between occupational stress and low-back pain. This finding is important in the prevention of occupational low-back pain, especially for nurses. This study highlights an urgent need for the development of effective prevention and training programs for low-back pain. Many experiences of low-back pain may be the result of cumulative effects of repeated stress on the back. It is necessary to implement preventive measures such as promoting psychological health at work place, and teaching stress reduction techniques before experiencing disability secondary to low-back pain