Background
Musculoskeletal workload and diseases
Skin diseases
Infectious diseases
Mental complaints
Objective
Primary research question
Secondary research questions
Methods/Design
Study design and sampling frame
Sample size and power calculation
Recruitment procedure
Exposure group - physical therapists
First strategy of recruitment
Professional associations of physical therapists in Germany
Second strategy of recruitment
Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention for the Health and Welfare Services (BGW)
External population-based comparison group - Inhabitants of a German city
Data collection
Standardized questionnaire-based survey
Questions | Content | Reference(s) |
---|---|---|
A 1
| Job title | Self-formulated question |
A 2
| Terms of employment | Self-formulated question |
A 3-4
| Occupation (duration of occupation) | Nordic questionnaire[29] |
A 5-9
| Current work activity (working hours, non-working time/break, overtime, etc.) | Self-formulated question |
A 10-11
| Occupational history and job change for health reasons | Nordic Questionnaire[29] |
A 12
| Predominant workload at work | Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire (COPSOQ) – German version[30] |
A 13-18
| Precise work activities (sector, work area, main activities, on-going training, etc.) - only physical therapists | Self-formulated question |
A 19
| Exposure assessment: musculoskeletal – only physical therapists | Risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal complaints by Campo et al., 2008[14] – own translation |
A 20
| Exposure assessment: musculoskeletal (back) | Adapted question: EPILIFT[31] |
A 21
| Exposure assessment: musculoskeletal (in general) | Adapted question: EPILIFT[31] |
A 22-23
| Exposure assessment: musculoskeletal (strength and hand activity combined) | Hand activity level threshold limit values (HAL TLVs)[32] |
B 1-6
| Psychosocial demands and workload of the current occupation | Shorted version of Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire (COPSOQ) – German version[30] |
B 7
| Assessment of effort reward imbalance | Effort-reward-imbalance questionnaire (ERI) Item version (short generic measure)[33] |
B 8
| Assessment of job (in-)security | ERI item version (short generic measure)[33] |
C 1
| Presenteeism | Own translation of Aronsson et al., 2000[34] |
C 2
| Absenteeism | Self-formulated question |
D 1-4
| Musculoskeletal workload and complaints | Nordic questionnaire (German version)[29] |
E 1-2
| Individual risk factors for dermal conditions | Adapted question from chronic hand eczema registry on longterm patient management (CARPE)[35] |
E 2-8
| Dermal exposures and diseases | Nordic work-related skin questionnaire – German translation (linguistic translation, current preparation of publication)[36] |
F 1-2
| Exposure assessment: infectious | Self-formulated question |
F 3
| Contact or infection with reportable infectious diseases | Selection of relevant infectious diseases from the review by[37] |
G 1-12
|
Socio-demographic data
| |
G 1
| Sex | German demografic standards[38] |
G 2
| Marital status | German demografic standards[38] |
G 3-5
| Age, body height, body weight | Nordic questionnaire[29] |
G 6-7
| Graduation, occupational qualification | German demografic standards[38] |
G 8
| Hand-dominance | Adapted Nordic questionnaire[29] |
G 9
| Sport | |
G 10
| Smoking behaviour | Extra-short version to assess current smoking behaviour[40] |
G 11
| Previous illness (e.g. mental diseases etc.) | Self-formulated question |
Clinical examination
Confounders
Statistical analyses
Prevalence | |
---|---|
Descriptive analysis | ▪ Musculoskeletal exposures as well as musculoskeletal complaints and diseases |
▪ Psychosocial exposures as well as mental complaints and diseases | |
▪ Dermal complaints and diseases | |
▪ Infectious diseases | |
Prevalence ratios
| |
Analytical analysis | ▪ Musculoskeletal complaints among the group of physical therapists vs. comparison group (inhabitants of a German city) in relation to work area, and main work tasks in general as well as work-related musculoskeletal exposures in detail |
▪ Mental complaints among the group of physical therapists vs. comparison group (inhabitants of a German city) in relation to work-related psychosocial exposures as well as the actual form of employment | |
▪ Dermal complaints among the group of physical therapists vs. comparison group (inhabitants of a German city) in relation to work area as well as work-related dermal exposures | |
▪ Occurrence of infectious diseases among the group of physical therapists vs. comparison group (inhabitants of a German city) in relation to work area, field of specialization, as well as work-related infectious agents |