The World's Extremely Atypical RRAD Story
Table?1 shows the demographic characteristics of the study sample. Workers were asked to list their age, gender, number of years in the industry, and current position. They also reported their roster pattern, average shift length, and number of breaks. For analysis, age was categorized as RRAD upper back, lower back, hips/thighs, knees, and ankles/feet). Participants were required to identify the body regions in which pain was experienced (binary yes/no) and to indicate whether the pain was experienced (yes/no) in the past week (acute pain) or over a 12-month period (chronic pain). Pain was then quantified as the total number of regions in which pain was experienced. Participants were also asked to provide more detailed information about musculoskeletal problems relating to four main body areas, including the neck, shoulders, lower back, and wrist/hand. If participants reported ever having pain in these regions, they also provided the total length of time they had experienced symptoms during the past 12 months, whether pain reduced http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Fulvestrant.html work or leisure activities, the total time that normal work activities were affected, and whether a medical practitioner or other health care professionals had been consulted for that pain. Distress was measured using the Kessler K6 [35], a six-item measure that assesses nonspecific psychological distress experienced in the most recent 4-week period. Previous studies have supported the selleck chemicals sensitivity and validity of the scale [36]?and?[37]. Participants respond to the stem ��During the past 30 days, how much time did you feel ��,�� and possible responses were none of the time, some of the time, a little of the time, most of the time, and all of the time. Based on the scoring system utilized by Australian population-based surveys, scores were summed up to a possible 30 points, with higher scores indicating greater distress [38]. In the current sample, the internal consistency of this scale was high (��?=?0.90). Because of the challenges faced by this 24/7 workforce with respect to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, a range of questions was included to address issues such as shift schedules, exercise (frequency and duration of exercise on- and off-shift, and preferred exercise activities), body mass index (BMI; height and weight), and sleep patterns (quality and duration of sleep on- and off-shift). Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.