The Journey to Chronicity: An exploration into the relationship between perceived stress, burnout, psychosocial related job dimensions and pain in the general working population.

Abstract

Objective: Psychosocial factors such as perceived stress, burnout and certain job dimensions have all separately been associated with chronic pain. However, previous research has not examined the relationship between these variables simultaneously in a general population with a measure of pain experience. As all three variables have been found to individually predict pain at different body sites and in both clinical and occupational populations, it is predicted that there could be a relationship between all three variables and pain experience in the general working population. Method: Participants included 147 female and 65 male participants (n=212) who took part in an online study. Perceived stress, burnout and pain experience were measured using the PSS-10, the CBI and the GPQ respectively. Pearson's Rho and Multiple Regression analysis were used to examine relationships among the variables, while Independent t-tests and a secondary Regression Analysis were used to review the differences in scoring between the demographic conditions. Results: Personal burnout and the psychosocial job dimensions of social support, decision authority and physical demands were significantly associated with pain. Secondly, females and previously diagnosed participants were found to have scored significantly higher on the GPQ. When added into the regression model however, only diagnoses remained significantly associated with pain experience. Conclusion: Both psychosocial stressors from specific occupational conditions and stress from outside the occupational sphere have a relationship with pain experience. This indicates that psychosocial factors do play a role in acute pain experience in the general population.