The psychosocial work environment and musculoskeletal disorders: design of a comprehensive interviewer-administered questionnaire.
BACKGROUND
Psychosocial working conditions are likely to contribute to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs), but a lack of standardized measurement tools reflects both the theoretical and methodological limitations of current research.


METHODS
An interdisciplinary team including biomedical, behavioral, and social science researchers used an iterative process to adapt existing instruments for an interviewer-administered questionnaire assessing psychosocial workplace exposure related to musculoskeletal disorders.


RESULTS
The resulting questionnaire included measures of psychosocial workplace factors based on two theoretical models (the demand-control-support and the effort-reward imbalance models), supplemented by the additional constructs of "emotional demands," and "experiences of discrimination." Other psychosocial and physical measures selected for questionnaire inclusion address physical workload, sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics, social relations and life events, health behaviors, and physical and psychological health.


CONCLUSIONS
Using an interdisciplinary approach facilitated the development of a comprehensive questionnaire inclusive of key measures of psychosocial factors that may play a role in the complex mechanisms leading to WRMSDs.
Rugulies
Reiner
R
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA. rer@ami.dk
Braff
Jeffrey
J
Frank
John W
JW
Aust
Birgit
B
Gillen
Marion
M
Yen
Irene H
IH
Bhatia
Rajiv
R
Ames
Genevieve
G
Gordon
Deborah R
DR
Janowitz
Ira
I
Oman
Doug
D
Jacobs
Bradly P
BP
Blanc
Paul
P
D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D011584:Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*