Research Design Connection: Job Control and Back Pain

Buruck lead a team that linked job control and chronic lower back pain (CLBP). Job control was described as including decision authority and skill discretion; it is reasonable to tie this definition to comfortable levels of control over the physical work environment, choices of where to work, and similar factors. Buruck and colleagues learned via a literature review and meta-analysis that “CLBP was significantly positively related to workload
and significantly negatively related to overall job control
decision authority
and two measures of social support
Our results support employees’ workload, job control, and social support as predictors of CLBP.” The Baruck group’s findings may also help explain user reports of chronic lower back pain in settings with positive ergonomic conditions.

Gabriele Buruck, Anne Tomaschek, Johannes Wendsche, Elke Ochsmann, and Denise Dorfel. 2019. “Psychosocial Areas of Worklife and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, vol. 20, no. 480, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-019-2826-3

Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.