Job Stress Dimensions and Their Relationship to Musculoskeletal Disorders in Nurses

There is little data available on job stress dimensions and their relationship to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among Iranian nurses. The aims of this study were to investigate job stress dimensions and examine their relationship to MSDs among nurses of hospital affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS). 385 randomly selected nurses of SUMS participated in this cross-sectional study. The Persian version of Job Content Questionnaire (P-JCQ)، Nordic MSDs (NMQ)، and demographic questionnaires were used for data collection. Using SPSS (version 11. 5) software، descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney test were applied for data analysis. The mean ± SD of decision latitude، psychological job demands، social support، physical job demands، and job insecurity were found to be 58. 15 ± 6. 50، 38. 19 ± 5. 14، 22. 67 ± 3. 67، 16. 03 ± 2. 58، and 7. 74 ± 3. 85، respectively. The results revealed that decision latitude and social support dimensions had low levels، but psychological and physical job demands، and job insecurity dimensions had high levels among the study subjects. The results of NMQ showed that 89. 9% of the nurses had experienced some form of MSD during the previous 12 months. Lower back symptoms were found to be the most prevalent problem reported (61. 8%). Physical isometric loads was the only sub-scale of job stress dimensions that had significant relationship with MSDs. Psychological and physical job demands were found to have a statistically significant relationship with trunk region symptoms. Physical job demands were associated with upper extremities symptoms. However، decision latitude، and psychological and physical job demands had a significant relationship with lower extremities problems. MSDs prevalence was high among the studied nurses. In the majority of cases، subjects were exposed to high levels of job stress. Based on the results، any interventional program for MSDs prevention should focus on reducing physical and psychological job demands، and increasing decision latitude among nurses.