The Relationship between Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Job Burnout among University Librarians

Background. Job burnout is an important factor affecting human health, and it can reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of staff in various organizations, including academic libraries. This negative phenomenon may deprive libraries of experienced manpower, disrupting the educational and information needs of library users, ultimately leading to the failure of the library and its organization in achieving the intended goals and missions. This study aimed to optimize the performance of human resources and identify the relationship between work-related musculoskeletal disorders and burnout to help in planning to reduce the rate of burnout.

Methods. This descriptive-correlational and applied research was carried out by census method on 126 librarians working in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences and Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. The Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaires (CMDQ) was used to measure the amount of physical injury caused by work and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to measure the degree of burnout. Data analysis was performed in two parts: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. P-value equal to 0.05 was considered as significant.

Results. The findings indicated that the total rate of musculoskeletal disorders (32.96) and total job burnout (1.72) were lower than the population average. The highest rate of musculoskeletal disorders was in the neck area (78.9%) and the lowest rate was in the lower leg (37.8%). Moreover, no significant difference was observed between male and female librarians in the variables of musculoskeletal disorders caused by work and job burnout.

Conclusion. In general, musculoskeletal disorders had a positive relationship with all dimensions of job burnout except for individual performance. There was an increase in musculoskeletal disorders, as well as the rate of job burnout.