<p>Construction manual workers are at a high risk of suffering from occupational related low back pain because of high-risk activities involved and the nomadic nature of the workforce. Low back pain and its associated disability continue to plague the construction industry. The prevalence of occupational related low back pain among manual workers in construction companies is believed to be due to high exposure to awkward postures for long hours, heavy manual work and exposure to whole-body vibration in the work environment. As a result of these risky exposures, low back pain has consistently been the leading cause of both occupational disability and absenteeism in the construction industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of occupationalrelated low back pain on the functional activities of the manual workers in a construction company in Cape Town. The prevalence and the predisposing factors of low back pain among construction manual workers were established as well as the effect of occupational-related low back pain on the functional activities of the manual workers was also determined. A crosssectional descriptive study using quantitative method was utilized. A convenient sampling method was employed and all the 212 available participants at two construction settings were recruited for the study. The population was categorised into four main occupational groups / &nbsp / masons, handymen, labourers and foremen. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire as a closed ended interview guide. The questionnaire comprised of four parts. Part one was used to determine the demographic data while parts two, three and four utilised three standardizedclose-ended validated questionnaires. These are / the Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire, the Profile Fitness Mapping questionnaire and the Pain and Disability Questionnaire. Data was captured and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 spreadsheet for statistical analysis. The study was conducted under the adherence of the ethical considerations. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses describe the association between the investigated independent variables with the occurrence of occupational related low back pain in the study. Results are presented using tables, charts and graphs. The results revealed a 25% prevalence of low back pain while the one month and one week prevalence rates were 69% and 54% respectively. Masons recorded the highest low back pain prevalence rate (58%). Initial onset of low back pain was mainly attributed to bending (48%) and load lifting (28%). The chi-square test at p&lt / 0.05 was done. The results revealed a lack of association between low back pain and the socio-demographic characteristics. Participants confirmed suffering physical, emotional, financial and functional problems with 41.5% reporting sickness absence and a mean of 4 days being lost during the past year. Further chi-square test for proportion revealed an association between low back pain and participants ‟ability to / lift (p=0.006), bend back forwards (p=0.001) and ability to bend back backwards (p=0.014). To prevent impairment, activity limitation and participation restriction among construction manual workers, a number of factors must be addressed at epidemiological level as highlighted in the recommendations of this study.</p>

<p>Low back pain (LBP) is a significant problem among the nursing population worldwide. Manual lifting and shifting of heavy objects and patients are primary contributing factors. Nurses are supposed to be knowledgeable about the risk factors and preventive measures and effectively apply it into practice to prevent them from sustaining back injuries. Strategies to reducing the incidences of LBP in nurses have been previously implemented but with little outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between occupational risk factors and the prevalence of LBP in nurses at MOI, Tanzania. Therefore, the study examined / the prevalence of LBP amongst nurses, work-related risk factors contributing to LBP, knowledge and effectiveness of back care techniques, and barriers to effective back care techniques in clinical nurses.</p>

<p>Construction manual workers are at a high risk of suffering from occupational related low back pain because of high-risk activities involved and the nomadic nature of the workforce. Low back pain and its associated disability continue to plague the construction industry. The prevalence of occupational related low back pain among manual workers in construction companies is believed to be due to high exposure to awkward postures for long hours, heavy manual work and exposure to whole-body vibration in the work environment. As a result of these risky exposures, low back pain has consistently been the leading cause of both occupational disability and absenteeism in the construction industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of occupationalrelated low back pain on the functional activities of the manual workers in a construction company in Cape Town. The prevalence and the predisposing factors of low back pain among construction manual workers were established as well as the effect of occupational-related low back pain on the functional activities of the manual workers was also determined. A crosssectional descriptive study using quantitative method was utilized. A convenient sampling method was employed and all the 212 available participants at two construction settings were recruited for the study. The population was categorised into four main occupational groups / &nbsp / masons, handymen, labourers and foremen. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire as a closed ended interview guide. The questionnaire comprised of four parts. Part one was used to determine the demographic data while parts two, three and four utilised three standardizedclose-ended validated questionnaires. These are / the Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire, the Profile Fitness Mapping questionnaire and the Pain and Disability Questionnaire. Data was captured and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 spreadsheet for statistical analysis. The study was conducted under the adherence of the ethical considerations. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses describe the association between the investigated independent variables with the occurrence of occupational related low back pain in the study. Results are presented using tables, charts and graphs. The results revealed a 25% prevalence of low back pain while the one month and one week prevalence rates were 69% and 54% respectively. Masons recorded the highest low back pain prevalence rate (58%). Initial onset of low back pain was mainly attributed to bending (48%) and load lifting (28%). The chi-square test at p&lt / 0.05 was done. The results revealed a lack of association between low back pain and the socio-demographic characteristics. Participants confirmed suffering physical, emotional, financial and functional problems with 41.5% reporting sickness absence and a mean of 4 days being lost during the past year. Further chi-square test for proportion revealed an association between low back pain and participants ‟ability to / lift (p=0.006), bend back forwards (p=0.001) and ability to bend back backwards (p=0.014). To prevent impairment, activity limitation and participation restriction among construction manual workers, a number of factors must be addressed at epidemiological level as highlighted in the recommendations of this study.</p>

Tiriamojo darbo tikslas. Ištirti stacionarioje sveikatos priežiūros įstaigoje dirbančių slaugytojų sveikatą įtakojančius psichosocialinius rizikos veiksnius ir įvertinti jų valdymo galimybę. Uždaviniai: Nustatyti slaugytojų nuomonę apie psichosocialinių rizikos veiksnius ir jų realų valdymą; Tyrimo metodika. 2011 m. rugpjūčio mėn. atliktas kiekybinis ir kokybinis tyrimas. Apklausti 284 VšĮ Respublikinės Šiaulių ligoninės bendrosios praktikos slaugytojai bei interviu metu apklausti 9 informantai. Rezultatai. Nustatyta nepakankamas apsaugos pirštinių naudojimas (p = 0,000). Daug darbo užduočių, nepriklausančių slaugytojo veiklai (p = 0,002), laiko trūkumas užduotims atlikti (p = 0,008), nepakankamai sudaromos sąlygos profesinei kvalifikacijai kelti ( p = 0,050). Organizavimo veiksniai: naktinis darbas (p = 0,035), nepakankamas darbo užmokestis (p = 0,035). Turinio veiksniai: didelė atsakomybė už atliekamus slaugos veiksmus (p = 0,042), įtakos savo darbui trūkumas (p = 0,027). Darbo santykių veiksniai: bloga skyriaus atmosfera (p = 0,018), nėra bendravimo (p = 0,017), paramos iš skyriaus administracijos trūkumas (p = 0,029), paramos iš įstaigos vadovybės trūkumas (p = 0,000), blogas vadovavimas įstaigai (p = 0,001). Visi šie veiksniai yra statistiškai reikšmingai susiję su slaugytojų amžiumi, jų šeimynine padėtimi, slaugytojų darbo stažu dabartinėje darbo vietoje bei bendru medicininiu darbo stažu. Negatyvus elgesį kasdien ir kas savaitę patirdavo: 2,2 % slaugytojų gaudavo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Aim of study: to investigate the psychosocial risk factors for health among nurses working at in-patient health care setting and evaluate the potential for management of such factors. Objectives: to evaluate the attitudes of nurses towards psychosocial risk factors and actual management of such factors. Material and methods: the qualitative and quantitative study was conducted in August 2011. In total, 284 general practice nurses from Siauliai Hospital were enrolled to study, 9 of them underwent the interview. Results. There were following identified risk factors: insufficient use of hospital gloves (p<0.001), abundance of tasks not related with nursing (p=0.002), lack of time for accomplishing the tasks (p=0.008), and scarce conditions for improvement of professional qualification (p=0.050). Organizational factors: work at night (p=0.035) and low salary (p=0.035). Content-related factors: high responsibility for nursing actions (p=0.042) and lack of influence on own work (p=0.027). Relationships at work: poor internal climate at work (p=0.018), lack of communication (p=0.017), lack of support by department authorities (p=0.029), lack of support by hospital authorities (p<0.001), and poor hospital management (p=0.001). All abovementioned factors were statistically significantly associated with nurses ‘age, family status, work experience in current workplace, and general medical work experience. Daily or weekly negative behaviour towards nurses was reported by 2.2 % in form... [to full text]

Os estudos epidemiológicos relativos ao denominado câncer ocupacional têm como objetivo o estudo do câncer em populações trabalhadoras e a identificação de fatores causais. O número de agentes que comprovadamente causam câncer em seres humanos é ainda pequeno, cerca de trinta. A estes fatores podem ser agregados algumas atividades ocupacionais e processos industriais onde agentes potencialmente cancerígenos existem mas não foram ainda identificados. A quase totalidade dos estudos epidemiológicos buscando relacionar ocupação e câncer foram realizados nos países desenvolvidos, com processos de industrialização mais antigos e consolidados. Nesta investigação o objetivo é estudar a relação trabalho e câncer no contexto de um país subdesenvolvido e recentemente industrializado. O estudo explora os riscos ocupacionais determinantes da neoplasia pulmonar na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP). O trabalho está dividido em duas partes. Na primeira são discutidos aspectos relativos ao câncer com particular destaque ao carcinoma broncogênico e à aplicação da metodologia epidemiológica na área da saúde do trabalhador, em especial para o estudo do câncer relacionado à ocupação. A segunda parte contempla a descrição do estudo de caso-controle construído para atingir os objetivos definidos. Os dados do estudo foram levantados no período de 1º de julho de 1990 a 31 de janeiro de 1991 em quatorze hospitais que concentram o atendimento a pacientes com câncer de pulmão na RMSP. Um total de 316 casos e 536 controles, emparelhados com os casos por sexo e idade, foram selecionados para análise. Tabagismo, tabagismo passivo, história migratória, outros cânceres na família e estrato sócio-econômico, além de sexo e idade, foram as outras variáveis estudadas. A análise univariada permitiu identificar as variáveis que estavam interferindo na relação principal estudada. Posteriormente, utilizou-se as técnicas de análise estratificada e de regressão logística para controlar as variáveis tabagismo, referência à carcinoma de pulmão na família, sexo e idade. Os resultados revelam que os trabalhadores que estiveram ligados por tempo prolongado aos setores de produção, de ramos de atividades industriais nos quais há maior probabilidade de exposição à substâncias cancerígenas, têm cerca de duas vezes o risco de desenvolverem carcinoma broncogênico em relação aos trabalhadores com menor probabilidade de exposição a substâncias cancerígenas como os que referiram nunca terem trabalhado fora de casa. / Epidemiological studies on occupational cancer have as their objective the study of cancer in working populations and the distribution of causal factors. The number of agents proved to cause cancer in humans is still rather small, about thirty. It could be added some occupational activities and industrial processes where hazardous agents are known to exist, but have not been identified. Almost all epidemiological studies to evaluate the relationship between occupation and cancer were carried out in developed countries, where industrialization process is older and more structured. In this investigation the objective is to study the association between occupation and cancer in a developing and newly industrialized country context. In this sense, the study explores occupational risks for lung cancer in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MRSP). This work is split in two parts. Firstly it was introduced a review of some aspects on cancer, particularly lung cancer, and the use of epidemiologic methodology related to worker\'s health, particularly cancer. In the second part it was described the hospital-based case-control study carried out to reach defined objectives. This research was conducted between 1st July 1990 and 31st January 1991 in fourteen hospitais which concentrate lung cancer cases in the MRSP. It has been selected a total of 316 cases and 536 controls, matched by hospital, sex and age with cases. Smoking, passive smoking, migratory history, cancer in the family and socio-economic status, besides sex and age, were other variables studied. Univariate analysis identified variables that could interfere in the main studied associatian. Through stratification and logistic regression approaches the variables gender and age, smoking and reference to lung neoplasy in family, were controlled. The results showed that workers linked to the production sectors of industries where there are higher risk of exposure to carcinogenic products have about two fold the risk of developing lung cancer rather than those workers with the lowest risk of exposure to carcinogens.

Os distúrbios osteomusculares relacionados ao trabalho (DORT) representam mais de 30% das doenças ocupacionais no mundo. A fim de organizar as ações estratégicas que serão desenvolvidas para prevenção de DORT, é fundamental analisar previamente as situações peculiares dos diferentes setores de um local de trabalho. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram verificar a prevalência de queixas musculoesqueléticas em trabalhadores de uma indústria de porte médio, comparando seus setores entre si, e investigar a influência de fatores ocupacionais e não ocupacionais no aumento das queixas. Foram aplicados o questionário nórdico para avaliação de sintomas musculoesqueleticos e questionários sobre hábitos de vida e condições relacionadas ao trabalho em 185 trabalhadores distribuidos em três setores de uma indústria (fábrica microeletrônica, escritório e logística). Constatou-se que há prevalência massiva de queixas osteomusculares (85.4%) nessa população, com variação das regiões afetadas em cada setor analisado. Os fatores ocupacionais que mais influenciaram as queixas de dores em diferentes regiões do corpo foram: trabalhar na fábrica, sofrer de estresse/pressão/prazos curtos no trabalho, ter histórico de DORT, ter sido afastado por DORT e considerar o trabalho arriscado. Quanto aos fatores não ocupacionais: ser mulher, ser cuidadora de criança em idade pré-escolar, ter baixa escolaridade e sofrer de insônia/descanso inadequado foram os mais influentes. Conclui-se que as regiões do corpo mais afetadas por dores diferem para cada setor desta indústria e há fatores individuais e ocupacionais que influenciam a alta prevalência das queixas osteomusculares. Programas que abordem esses aspectos podem contribuir para o controle de DORT. / Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) comprise more than 30% of occupational diseases in the world. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints among workers in a medium-sized industry by comparing its different sectors and investigate the influence of occupational and non-occupational factors in complaints increase. 185 industry workers divided in three sectors (factory, office and logistics) were assessed using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and lifestyle and work-related conditions questionnaires. Massive prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints (85.4%) was detected in this population, with different affected body parts in each sector. The most influential occupational factors were: working at the factory, job strain, pre-existing history of MSD and considering the job risky. Being female, low education level and inadequate rest were the most influential non-occupational factors. The body parts most affected by musculoskeletal complaints differ among each sector and are influenced by individual and occupational factors. Programs addressing these aspects can contribute to control WMSDs.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Low back pain (LBP) is a significant problem among the nursing population worldwide. Manual lifting and shifting of heavy objects and patients are primary contributing factors. Nurses are supposed to be knowledgeable about the risk factors and preventive measures and effectively apply it into practice to prevent them from sustaining back injuries. Strategies to reducing the incidences of LBP in nurses have been previously implemented but with little outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between occupational risk factors and the prevalence of LBP in nurses at MOI, Tanzania. Therefore, the study examined; the prevalence of LBP amongst nurses, work-related risk factors contributing to LBP, knowledge and effectiveness of back care techniques, and barriers to effective back care techniques in clinical nurses. / South Africa

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Construction manual workers are at a high risk of suffering from occupational related low back pain because of high-risk activities involved and the nomadic nature of the workforce. Low back pain and its associated disability continue to plague the construction industry. The prevalence of occupational related low back pain among manual workers in construction companies is believed to be due to high exposure to awkward postures for long hours, heavy manual work and exposure to whole-body vibration in the work environment. As a result of these risky exposures, low back pain has consistently been the leading cause of both occupational disability and absenteeism in the construction industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of occupational related low back pain on the functional activities of the manual workers in a construction company in Cape Town. The prevalence and the predisposing factors of low back pain among construction manual workers were established as well as the effect of occupational-related low back pain on the functional activities of the manual workers was also determined. A crosssectional descriptive study using quantitative method was utilized. A convenient sampling method was employed and all the 212 available participants at two construction settings were recruited for the study. The population was categorised into four main occupational groups; masons, handymen, labourers and foremen. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire as a closed ended interview guide. The questionnaire comprised of four parts. Part one was used to determine the demographic data while parts two, three and four utilised three standardizedclose-ended validated questionnaires. These are; the Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire, the Profile Fitness Mapping questionnaire and the Pain and Disability Questionnaire. Data was captured and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 spreadsheet for statistical analysis. The study was conducted under the adherence of the ethical considerations. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses describe the association between the investigated independent variables with the occurrence of occupational related low back pain in the study. Results are presented using tables, charts and graphs. The results revealed a 25% prevalence of low back pain while the one month and one week prevalence rates were 69% and 54% respectively. Masons recorded the highest low back pain prevalence rate (58%). Initial onset of low back pain was mainly attributed to bending (48%) and load lifting (28%). The chi-square test at p&lt; 0.05 was done. The results revealed a lack of association between low back pain and the socio-demographic characteristics. Participants confirmed suffering physical, emotional, financial and functional problems with 41.5% reporting sickness absence and a mean of 4 days being lost during the past year. Further chi-square test for proportion revealed an association between low back pain and participants ‟ability to; lift (p=0.006), bend back forwards (p=0.001) and ability to bend back backwards (p=0.014). To prevent impairment, activity limitation and participation restriction among construction manual workers, a number of factors must be addressed at epidemiological level as highlighted in the recommendations of this study. / South Africa