Psychosocial Factors Related to Musculoskeletal Disorders in Academicians

The Investigation of the Effects of Academic Stress and Burnout on Musculoskeletal Disorders in Academicians

the prevalence of occupational stress and burnout is very high among academicians. Previous studies examining MSDs in academicians have focused more on physical factors such as physical activity levels and ergonomics, while interest in psychosocial factors has been limited. To our knowledge, there is no study in the literature that evaluates both MSDs, work stress, and burnout in academicians. Therefore, our study aims to investigate the relationship between MSDs and academic stress, burnout, and work-life balance among academicians.

The study aims to investigate psychosocial factors such as academic stress and burnout, which are thought to influence musculoskeletal disorders among academics. As part of the research, data will be collected through questionnaires from volunteer academics at a selected university who have at least six months of teaching experience at the institution. The questionnaire will gather information on musculoskeletal pain, demographic characteristics, stress levels, burnout levels, and work-life balance. After entering the data into the SPSS software, statistical analysis will be conducted. Categorical variables will be presented as numbers (percentages), and numerical variables will be reported as means and standard deviations. To assess correlations, Spearman or Pearson correlation tests and regression analyses will be used. The Chi-square test will be used to compare categorical variables between male and female academics, while the independent samples t-test will be applied for numerical variables if normality is assumed; otherwise, the Mann-Whitney U test will be used. The Shapiro-Wilk test will be conducted to assess the normality of the data. A significance level of p<0.005 will be considered statistically significant.

Inclusion Criteria:

• volunteering to participate,
• having worked as academic staff at Yalova University for the past six months,
• being able to understand and speak Turkish

Exclusion Criteria:

• who wished to withdraw from the study,
• those with a history of fracture or soft tissue injury in any body region within the past 12 months,
• congenital spinal disorders, scoliosis, rheumatoid diseases, cancer, surgery, chronic internal organ pain, long-term use of analgesic or psychiatric medications, - those working in departments without students