Association of psychosocial work characteristics with low back pain outcomes.
METHODS
This is a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of 295 patients with acute low back pain presenting to 31 primary care physicians in North Carolina.


OBJECTIVE
This study examines the hypothesis that dissatisfaction with job tasks and lack of social support from coworkers and supervisor are associated with poorer low back pain outcomes.


BACKGROUND
Psychosocial work characteristics are thought to be associated with the occurrence, report, and development of long-term disability from low back pain, but the studies are inconclusive. METHOD.: Three psychosocial work characteristics were separately compared to these outcomes: time to functional recovery, attainment of complete recovery, and clinically relevant change on the Modified Roland Scale.


RESULTS
Relative to subjects with more social support from coworkers, subjects with less social support from coworkers have 1.55 (95% CI = 1.04-2.34) times the risk of not attaining complete recovery from low back pain at 8 weeks. For all other outcomes evaluated in this study, there was not an association with the psychosocial work characteristics. Biomechanical demands were found not to modify this association.


CONCLUSIONS
This analysis provides evidence that social support in the workplace from coworkers but not social support from a supervisor or job task satisfaction are likely targets for intervention.
Mielenz
Thelma J
TJ
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7280, USA. thelma_mielenz@unc.edu
Garrett
Joanne M
JM
Carey
Timothy S
TS
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012944:Social Support; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*