Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Risk of Burnout in Child Care Workers - A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES: German child care workers' job satisfaction is influenced by the consequences of unfavourable underlying conditions. Child care workers tend to suffer from psychosocial stress, as they feel that their work is undervalued. The objective of the present study is to investigate how the psychosocial factors of the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model influence musculoskeletal symptoms (MS) and the risk of burnout. To our knowledge this is the first study investigating the association between the factors of the ERI model and MS in child care workers.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data from 199 child care workers were examined in a cross-sectional study. Psychosocial factors were recorded with the ERI questionnaire. MS was recorded with the Nordic Questionnaire and risk of burnout with the Personal Burnout scale of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Multivariate analysis was performed using linear and logistic regression models. The response rate was 57%. In most of the sample (65%), an effort-reward imbalance was observed. 56% of the child care workers were at risk of burnout and 58% reported MS. Factors associated with risk of burnout were subjective noise exposure (OR: 4.4, 95%CI: 1.55-12.29) and overcommitment (OR: 3.4; 95%CI: 1.46-7.75). There were statistically significant associations between MS and overcommitment (low back pain-OR: 2.2, 95%CI: 1.04-4.51), low control (overall MS OR: 3.8; 95%CI: 1.68-3.37) and risk of burnout (overall MS OR: 2.3, 95%CI: 1.01-5.28). For ERI no statistically significant associations were found with reference to risk of burnout or MS.

CONCLUSION: Overcommitment in child care workers is related to MS and risk of burnout. There is also evidence that low control is associated with MS and subjective noise exposure with risk of burnout. Effort-reward imbalance is not related to either outcome. This occupational health risk assessment identifies changeable working factors in different types of facilities.