Analysis 9.1. Comparison 9 Biofeedback (vibration) to reduce hand idle time on mouse versus no intervention, Outcome 1

BackgroundMusculoskeletal pain is common among teachers. Work-related psychosocial factors are found to be associated with the development of musculoskeletal pain, however psychological distress may also play an important role.ObjectivesTo assess the prevalence of self-reported low back pain (LBP), and neck and/or shoulder pain (NSP) among secondary school teachers; and to evaluate the association of LBP and NSP with psychological distress and work-related psychosocial factors.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study conducted among teachers in the state of Penang, Malaysia. The participants were recruited via a two stage sampling method. Information on demographic, psychological distress, work-related psychosocial factors, and musculoskeletal pain (LBP and NSP) in the past 12 months was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Poisson regression was used to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR) for the associations between psychological distress and work-related psychosocial factors with LBP and NSP.ResultsThe prevalence of self-reported LBP and NSP among 1482 teachers in the past 12 months was 48.0% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 45.2%, 50.9%) and 60.1% (95% CI 57.4%, 62.9%) respectively. From the multivariate analysis, self-reported LBP was associated with teachers who reported severe to extremely severe depression (PR: 1.71, 95% CI 1.25, 2.32), severe to extremely severe anxiety (1.46, 95% CI 1.22, 1.75), high psychological job demand (1.29, 95% CI 1.06, 1.57), low skill discretion (1.28, 95% CI 1.13, 1.47) and poorer mental health (0.98, 95% CI 0.97, 0.99). Self-reported NSP was associated with mild to moderate anxiety (1.18, 95% CI 1.06, 1.33), severe to extremely severe anxiety (1.25, 95% CI 1.09, 1.43), low supervisory support (1.13, 95% CI 1.03, 1.25) and poorer mental health (0.98, 95% CI 0.97, 0.99).ConclusionsSelf-reported LBP and NSP were common among secondary school teachers. Interventions targeting psychological distress and work-related psychosocial characteristics may reduce musculoskeletal pain among school teachers.

Low back pain (LBP) is prevalent among workers both in developed and developing countries. School teachers represent a high proportion of working population in Malaysia. However, there is a lack of longitudinal study on predictors and course of LBP among teachers. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the predictors and course of LBP among secondary school teachers.

Determining the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of secondary school teachers and its relationship with various factors will provide a basis for improving their quality of life and benefit society. To this end, this article endeavors to determine the factors associated with HRQoL among female secondary school teachers in Selangor, Malaysia. This is a cross-sectional study of 888 female secondary school teachers in Selangor, Malaysia. We used a self-reported questionnaire to collect data, and linear regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated between physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of HRQoL. Age, body mass index (BMI), symptoms of depression and anxiety, and reporting low back pain were significantly associated with PCS. Meanwhile, age, symptoms of depression, and resilience level were significantly associated with MCS. These findings will benefit workplaces in planning strategies and initiatives to improve HRQoL among female secondary school teachers in Malaysia.