Prevention of low back pain (LBP) among workers is necessary for preventing disability, lost productivity, and medical cost. This quasi-experimental research, therefore, aimed to study the effects of a teaching program on low back pain prevention in postal parcel workers. The Protection Motivation Theory was applied in developing the program activities including group discussion, demonstration, practice, and reminder from the supervisors about the continuity of LBP prevention behavior. The sample consisted of 60 male workers who worked in the postal parcel section of Mail Centers in Bangkok with no history of chronic LBP. Subjects were equally divided into the experimental group (n=30) and the comparison group (n=30). The data was collected before and after the experiment using questionnaires and working posture observation forms. Descriptive statistics used were frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The analytical statistics comprised student’s t-test and pair t-test. The results of this study revealed that after the experiment, perceived severity, perceived vulnerability to LBP, self-efficacy expectancy, response efficacy expectancy in LBP prevention, and LBP prevention behaviors of the comparison group were significantly higher than that before the experiment and than that of the comparison group. In addition, data from the observation of working posture showed that the experimental group had more appropriate working posture than before the experiment and than the comparison group. It is suggested that the teaching program was able to motivate worker to practice LBP prevention behaviors. This program, therefore, should be applied as primary prevention to individuals who are at risk of LBP.
Session #1219 - Poster Session I
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)