1. Low back pain and associated presenteeism among hospital nursing staff
- Author
-
Marina Tagna, Sara Viotti, Daniela Converso, Bianca Mottura, Angelo d’Errico, A Baratti, Anna Pia Barocelli, Barbara Sgambelluri, and Paolo Battaglino
- Subjects
Adult ,Work ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Nursing Staff, Hospital ,Burnout ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Absenteeism ,Epidemiology ,Prevalence ,Humans ,Medicine ,low back pain ,presenteism ,burnout ,business.industry ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,Human factors and ergonomics ,Occupational Injuries ,Low back pain ,nervous system diseases ,Italy ,Population Surveillance ,Presenteeism ,Physical therapy ,Female ,Industrial and organizational psychology ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Psychosocial - Abstract
et al. Department of Epidemiology, Local Health Unit TO3, Italy—Objectives: In spite of the high prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and presenteeism previously observed among nurses, no study has assessed the risk of presenteeism specifically due to LBP in nursing staff. Therefore, aim of the present study was to assess prevalence and risk factors of presenteeism due to LBP among hospital nursing personnel. Methods: 174 female nurses underwent a clinical interview and filled in a questionnaire on sociodemographics, LBP symp-toms and associated sickness absence, mental symp-toms, burnout and on exposure to workplace organiza-tional, psychosocial and ergonomic factors; 111 subjects affected by LBP were included in the analysis. The effect of sociodemographic and workplace characteristics on presenteeism was examined through multivariate Pois-son robust regression models. Results: Prevalence of presenteeism due to LBP was 58%, with wide differ-ences between registered nurses and nursing aides (p=0.001). Only a few workplace factors were signifi-cantly associated with presenteeism, including frequent stooping, which decreased the risk of presenteeism, and good working climate and procedural justice, which increased it. Conclusions: Presenteeism due to LBP was very high among registered nurses and was influ-enced only by workplace, but not by sociodemographic characteristics. Presenteeism due to LBP among regis-tered nurses should be closely monitored, and effort should be made to reduce it to prevent future work disability associated with LBP.(J Occup Health 2013; 55: 276–283)