The Relationship Between Workplace Psychosocial Factors and Muskuloskeletal Disorders in Office Work: Suggested Mechanisms and Evidence

Details

• Personal Author:
  Sauter, Steven L. ; Swanson, Naomi G.
• Description:
  There are increasing indications that workplace psychosocial factors are somehow involved in the etiology of work-related muskuloskeletal disorders. For example, an extensive review of the epidemiologic literature on this subject by Bongers and de Winter concluded that monotonous work, perceived high workload and time pressure, and low control and social support were all related to muskuloskeletal symptoms among workers. The International Labor Office (ILO) has defined workplace psychosocial factors in very broad terms, synonymous with conditions that give rise to job stress. These conditions include not only aspects of work, ranging from the nature of tasks to relationships at work and management practices (often grouped loosely under the rubric "work organization"), but also psychological attributes of workers (needs and expectations, personality, culture, etc). In this chapter we will attempt to elucidate the potential causal mechanisms and pathways linking workplace psychosocial factores and muskuloskeletal disorders in video display terminals (VDT) work. The intent is not to diminish the importance of ergonomic factors or biomechanical mechanisms in the etiology of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, but rather to suggest a more holistic explanatory framework that incorporates psychosocial factors as well as physical environmental or ergonomic factors. Research supporting this framework is presented. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Environmental Health Epidemiology Ergonomics Mental Health Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Workplace
• Keywords:
  Biomechanics Environmental-factors Etiology Job-stress Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Office-workers Psychological-stress Video-display-terminals Work-environment Workers
• ISBN:
  0892031433
• Publisher:
  American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Book
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DBBS - Division of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  65-76
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027961
• Citation:
  Repetitive Motion Disorders of the Upper Extremity, 1995, SL Gordon, SJ Blair, LJ Fine, KN An, RL Lieber, MA Ruda, B Silverstein, RM Szabo, KG Vogel, eds., Rosemont, IL: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 1995 Jan; :65-76
• Editor(s):
  Gordon SL; Blair SJ; Fine LJ; An KN; Lieber RL; Ruda MA; Silverstein B; Szabo RM; Vogel KG
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Repetitive Motion Disorders of the Upper Extremity
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4689193dcda8d6fc516da4e8743f319ed15cb6abf67f2478b9796603accd0b884ded963d13f746ada0df7515e7da5826b4b0edf6e0e9fa42f134e0ea2a641821
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/189697/cdc_189697_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.55 MB ]