Assessment of musculoskeletal discomfort and psychosocial work factors among Malaysian bus drivers

Abstract

There have been many reports on the physical factors contributed to the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) which have a negative influence on the health of employee across different occupations including bus drivers. But few studies considered the effect of psychosocial factors on their research. Therefore this study focuses on the assessment of musculoskeletal disorders as well as psychosocial work factors among bus drivers in Malaysia. Furthermore the association between psychosocial work factors and MSDs is also investigated. This research is based on questionnaires extracted from the standard Nordic questionnaire for assessment of MSDs and psychosocial work factors. The questionnaires were translated into the Malay language, and a pilot study is carried out to determine the reliability of the questionnaires. The MSDs symptoms of shoulder, neck, and upper back were found to be significant. The recent researches reported that the psychosocial work factors are significantly associated with the development of MSDs, Hence, Control at work, Job-demand, Work Motivation, and Role Expectation were selected. The association of psychosocial work factors and prevalence of MSDs is determined via Pearson Chi-square test. Significant relations were found between the job demand and control at work, in the development of MSDs.