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Back pain occurrence and treatment-seeking behavior among nurses: the role of work-related emotional burden

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Abstract

Purpose

To assess the association of back pain and treatment-seeking behavior for such pain with work-related emotional burden (regret about care), regret coping strategies, and physical burden among newly practicing nurses.

Methods

We used data from the Impact of Care-related Regret Upon Sleep (ICARUS) cohort collected between 05.2017 and 07.2018 using web-based surveys (weekly for measures of emotional burden, physical burden and coping strategies, and monthly for back pain and seeking care). We investigated immediate associations and temporal influences between burdens and back pain with linear mixed models and cross-lagged Bayesian models, respectively. Coefficients were standardized to allow comparison between burdens. Logistic regression was used to examine the association of burdens with seeking care.

Results

Among 105 nurses with an average follow-up of 3 months, 80 reported at least one episode of back pain. Neither physical nor emotional burdens had an immediate association with back pain. However, number of days with back pain in a given month was associated with an increase in both burdens during the previous month, with similar degrees of association (emotional: b = 0.24, physical: b = 0.21). Decision to seek treatment was associated with an increase in back pain frequency (OR 1.12, p = 0.04) and intensity (OR 1.80, p = 0.002) and a decrease in emotional burden (OR 0.95, p = 0.03). Coping strategies were associated neither with the occurrence of back pain nor with care-seeking.

Conclusion

While both emotional and physical burdens were associated with increased frequency of back pain the following month, emotional burden additionally showed a negative association with the decision to seek care.

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Funding

This work is part of the ICARUS cohort study, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) (Grant Number 166010). MEI is supported by a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship, and BC is supported by an Ambizione Grant (N°: PZ00P1_180040) from the SNSF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Rheumatology, Beau Sejour Hospital, Geneva University Hospitals, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland

    Maha E. Ibrahim, Kim Lauper, Pierre Chopard, Stéphane Genevay & Delphine S. Courvoisier

  2. Department of Physical Medicine, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

    Maha E. Ibrahim

  3. Quality of Care Service, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

    Boris Cheval, Stéphane Cullati, Denis Mongin, Pierre Chopard & Delphine S. Courvoisier

  4. Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Boris Cheval, Stéphane Cullati, Denis Mongin, Pierre Chopard & Delphine S. Courvoisier

  5. Swiss NCCR “LIVES: Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives”, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Boris Cheval & Stéphane Cullati

  6. Institute of Sociological Research, University of Geneva, Switzerland Centre, Geneva, Switzerland

    Stéphane Cullati

  7. Centre for Epidemiology Versus Arthritis, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science, Manchester, UK

    Kim Lauper

  8. Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

    Jesper Pihl-Thingvad

  9. National Center of Psychotraumatology, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Jesper Pihl-Thingvad

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  1. Maha E. Ibrahim
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  2. Boris Cheval
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  3. Stéphane Cullati
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  4. Denis Mongin
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  5. Kim Lauper
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  8. Stéphane Genevay
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  9. Delphine S. Courvoisier
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Contributions

MEI, BC, and DSC designed the analyses and drafted the manuscript. MEI, BC, DSC, and DM analyzed the data. All authors critically appraised and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maha E. Ibrahim.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interests.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Geneva Canton, Switzerland (reference number: CCER2016-02041), the Ethics Committee of London South Bank University (reference number: HSCSEP/17/06), and the University Research Ethics Committee of Bedfordshire (reference number: UREC106). Other study centers deemed local ethical approval unnecessary since the main ethics committee (Geneva) had already accepted the project.

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An informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Ibrahim, M.E., Cheval, B., Cullati, S. et al. Back pain occurrence and treatment-seeking behavior among nurses: the role of work-related emotional burden. Qual Life Res 29, 1301–1310 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-019-02405-4

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