Applied occupational and environmental hygiene
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Appl Occup Environ Hyg · Nov 2002
Comparative StudyAttributions, stress, and work-related low back pain.
Occupational low back pain (LBP) is a major cause of morbidity and cost. Efforts to control LBP are largely unsuccessful, and better understanding of risks is needed, especially psychological factors. The purpose of this research was to assess the association between worker attributions and LBP. ⋯ Workers with annual incomes above 15,000 dollars were more likely to report LBP in the test of both the Demand-Control-Support and Attribution models (OR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.2-6.9 and OR = 4.1, 95% CI = 1.5-11.1, respectively). While both models appeared to be useful for the study of low back pain, the R(2)(L) of the Demand-Control-Support model equaled only 11.9 percent, whereas the Attribution model equaled 26.2 percent. This study provides evidence that attribution theory is useful in the study of LBP, including in future interventions in the prevention of LBP.