Low Back Pain At Work: Knowledge and Attitude of Sectional Heads at the University College Hospital, Ibadan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out the knowledge and attitude of sectional heads towards managing low back pain (LBP) at work at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. It was also aimed at identifying the difficulties encountered and the organizational needs required in the management of LBP at work. Twenty-nine sectional(16 male and 13 female) heads at the University Teaching Hospital participated in this cross-sectional survey. The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire, adapted from the Management of LBP in the Workplace Questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentages and inferential statistics of Chi square. Level of significance was set at 0.05. Twenty-six (89.7%) of the participants reported no difficulty in managing staff members with low back pain. Seventeen (58.6%) participants had poor knowledge, while 37.9% had fair to good knowledge of managing LBP at work. Twenty-two participants had a positive attitude towards managing staff members with low back pain. There was no significant association (p=0.307) between respondents’ knowledge and attitude towards managing workers with LBP. Organizing workshops for workers was the most frequently reported organizational support required for the management of LBP. Sectional heads at the University College Hospital, Ibadan have poor knowledge but a positive attitude towards managing workers with LBP.