Examining the Relationship between Psychosocial Work Factors and Musculoskeletal Discomfort among Computer Users in Malaysia

Abstract

Background: With computers rapidly carving a niche in virtually every nook and crevice of today's fast-paced society, mus­culoskeletal disorders are becoming more prevalent among computer users, which comprise a wide spectrum of the Ma­laysian population, including office workers. While extant literature depicts extensive research on musculoskeletal dis­orders in general, the five dimensions of psychosocial work factors (job demands, job conten-tment, job control, com­puter-related prob­lems and social interaction) attributed to work-related musculoskeletal disorders have been neglected. This study exam­ines the aforementioned elements in detail, pertaining to their relationship with musculoskeletal disor­ders, focusing in particu­lar, on 120 office workers at Malaysian public sector organizations, whose jobs require intensive computer usage.
Methods: Research was conducted between March and July 2009 in public service organizations in Malaysia .This study was conducted via a survey utilizing self-complete questionnaires and diary. The relationship between psychosocial work fac­tors and musculoskeletal discomfort was ascertained through regression analyses, which revealed that some factors were more important than others were.
Results: The results indicate a significant relationship among psychosocial work factors and musculoskeletal discomfort among computer users. Several of these factors such as job control, computer-related problem and social interaction of psychoso­cial work factors are found to be more important than others in musculoskeletal discomfort.
Conclusion: With computer usage on the rise among users, the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort could lead to unneces­sary disabilities, hence, the vital need for greater attention to be given on this aspect in the work place, to alleviate to some extent, potential problems in future.