Occupational overuse syndrome and the effects of psychosocial stressors on keyboard users in the newspaper industry

There is continuing concern about the incidence of occupational overuse syndrome (OOS) among workers using keyboards. Following results from research showing positive correlations between psychosocial factors in the workplace and the incidence of OOS symptoms, it was hypothesized that differences in rates of pain reporting by keyboard workers are related to job stress caused by different levels in the quality of the psychosocial work environment. An interaction between autonomy and the impact of work pressure on pain reporting was also predicted. Data were used from a sample of 550 keyboard users in several different types of job, working in eight different newspaper offices of the same newspaper company. The results confirmed the hypotheses. Post hoc analysis showed that there were important differences between the types of stressors that predicted the reporting of pain between offices, and those that predicted pain reporting between types of job. These results confirm the importance of considering psychosocial factors in work and workplace design in connection with the prevention of OOS. Conclusions are also drawn about the situation specificity of such empirical research, and the need for more theoretical work in the search for the aetiology of OOS.