The Role of demand - control - support model in nursing musculoskeletal disorders:A systematic review

Nursing is one of the high risk jobs in the world and its occupational hazards have a direct impact on the health of nurses. Work-based musculoskeletal disorders are prevalent among health care workers, particularly nursing staff.  The purpose of this study was to systematically review studies on the relationship between occupational stress based on demand-control-support model and nurses' musculoskeletal disorders.

In this study, major international electronic databases including PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and ScienceDirect and Persian databases including SID, Irandoc, Magiran and Medlib were studied. The keywords used were: social support, job stress, job control, job demand, and musculoskeletal disorder. The main criterion for inclusion was the survey of the top three variables in the nursing community. After evaluating the inclusion criteria and the quality of the articles, 6 studies were identified and included in the study.

According to the results of 6 studies, in 4 studies variables of job strain and in 5 studies psychological demands of job were related to the musculoskeletal disorders. The relationship between job control and supervisor support has also been confirmed in one study.

Surveys clearly show that the greater the individual's perception of control over their work and the lower the level of psychological demands in their job, the health of the individual increases.