Investigating the Relationship Between Mental Workload, Occupational Stress and Demographic Factors with the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and its Disabilities in Flight Security Employees

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDS) are a multifactorial phenomenon and are the most common type of occupational injuries and the main cause of disability in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to Investigating the relationship between mental workload, occupational stress and demographic factors with the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its disabilities in flight security employees.

This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2019 among 316 employees of Iran flight security. Demographic data were collected by a demographic questionnaire. To study the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, occupational stress, mental workload and disability, the Cornell Questionnaire, Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), NASA TLX and Pain Disability Questionnaires (PDQ) were used, respectively. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test, chi-square and multiple logistic regression in SPSS software version 25.

Results showed that 31.65% of the personnel had no musculoskeletal disorders and 68.35% had musculoskeletal disorders in at least one of their organs. There was a significant correlation between the parameters of increased age, higher work experience, high body mass index, gender and educational level and prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Moreover, some components related to occupational stress and mental workload had significant association with mentioned disorders (P-value <0.05).

The results of the present study revealed that the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and their disabilities were high in the flight security team and parameters of occupational stress and mental workload are among the most important risk factors for the prevalence of the musculoskeletal disorders and related disabilities. Therefore, corrective measures through controlling individual and psychosocial risk factors are necessary to reduce the prevalence of these disorders.