Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Federal University of Alagoas - Campus do Sertão, Alagoas, Brazil.
Work. 2024;78(1):83-97. doi: 10.3233/WOR-230439.
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders for upper limbs (UL-WMSDs) form a complex of occupational diseases common to many professions worldwide. UL-WMSDs are manifested in most cases by pain, resulting in musculoskeletal discomfort.
This research aimed to evaluate the perception of musculoskeletal discomfort in workers from the interior of the Brazilian states of Alagoas and Bahia through the construction of a scale to assess musculoskeletal discomfort for upper limb.
The discomfort assessment scale was constructed from self-reported pain symptoms by 420 workers from the inner regions of the Brazilian states of Alagoas and Bahia. The reliability and dimensionality of the collected data were analyzed by McDonald's Omega and exploratory factor analysis, respectively. Item Response Theory (IRT) was used to create parameters for the discomfort scale.
The musculoskeletal discomfort metric was constructed from the workers' response with six levels (varying from minimum discomfort to maximum discomfort). At the lowest level of the scale, workers indicated symptoms in the shoulders and wrists were rare. At the highest level of the scale, daily pain symptoms are reported in all regions of the upper limbs. The shoulders are the last region to develop extreme pain symptoms.
The metric was created to present satisfactory psychometric properties and capable measurement of the workers' level of musculoskeletal discomfort based on self-reported pain symptoms. Therefore, the metric can support measuring discomfort, contributing to decisions that improve a healthier occupational environment for the worker.
与工作相关的上肢肌肉骨骼疾病（UL-WMSD）是一种在世界范围内许多职业中都很常见的职业病。UL-WMSD 在大多数情况下表现为疼痛，导致肌肉骨骼不适。
本研究旨在通过构建一种评估上肢肌肉骨骼不适的量表，评估巴西阿拉戈斯州和巴伊亚州内陆地区工人的肌肉骨骼不适感知。
通过对来自巴西阿拉戈斯州和巴伊亚州内陆地区的 420 名工人的自我报告疼痛症状，构建了不适评估量表。分别采用 McDonald's Omega 和探索性因子分析对收集的数据的可靠性和维度进行分析。采用项目反应理论（IRT）为不适量表创建参数。
肌肉骨骼不适量表是根据工人的反应构建的，共有六个等级（从最小不适到最大不适）。在量表的最低等级，工人表示肩部和手腕的症状很少见。在量表的最高等级，每天都会报告上肢所有区域的疼痛症状。肩部是最后出现极度疼痛症状的区域。
该量表具有令人满意的心理测量特性，能够根据自我报告的疼痛症状来衡量工人的肌肉骨骼不适程度。因此，该量表可以支持对不适程度的测量，有助于做出改善工人更健康的职业环境的决策。
