How Chronic Pain Impacts Those Who Have to Attend Work
How exactly does chronic pain impacts those who still need to attend work? Lets find out!
Millions of people suffer from chronic pain, and many of them still need to attend work. Even though they may not feel the greatest, they still head into work on a regular basis. Whether or not them being in pain at work impacts their job isn’t something that has been studied much, so researchers set out to see what toll it may take on their job. They wanted to see how their work experience compared to those who are not experiencing chronic pain while on the job.
The findings of their study are published in the May 2021 issue of the Canadian Journal of Pain (1). The study analysis took a look at the psychological costs of pain in the workplace. They used a 2015 European Working Conditions Survey to gather the information they needed. The analysis included a review of 2,384 people who had chronic pain and 2,263 people who didn’t experience chronic pain.
They compared the two groups in a variety of areas, so they could determine what the difference was in what they were experiencing in the workplace. Some of the areas they reviewed include:
- Supervisor support
- Threats/abuse
- Job competency
- Job security
- Team cohesion
- Discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Stress
They also compared the number of days of work that each group missed on average per year due to illness.
What they found from analyzing the results of the study is that those who have chronic pain were 64% less likely to view their job as rewarding. They were also more likely to be subjected to workplace threats and abuse, and 30% more likely to say that they had less supervisor support. Additionally, they were 28% more likely to feel that there was discrimination in the workplace. Research also found that on average, those with chronic pain tend to miss around nine more days per year.
Whether the absenteeism on the job and being in pain while working leads to lower work performance overall, or if those who have chronic pain are discriminated against for other reasons, remains unknown. Either way, those who have chronic pain and have to attend work do not seem to have as good of an experience as those who don’t experience the pain. Not only are they experiencing pain, but they don’t experience the workplace atmosphere in the same way that those who don’t have pain experience it.
And that is how chronic pain impacts those who needs to attend work.
Source:
Canadian Journal of Pain. Attending work with chronic pain is associated with higher levels of psychological stress. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34189394/
