Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1992

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Robert L. Williams

Committee Members

Kathleen Lawler, Schuyler Huck, John Hungerford

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that life event stress, perceived stress, and/or other psychological variables such as self-management and self-control are highly related to the development of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) and may be important discriminating factors in CTS etiology. The subjects included 100 workers, 50 pairs, from the areas of automobile parts assembly, keyboard operation, electronic assembly, the garment industry, and interpreters for the deaf. The pairs were matched as closely as possible according to such physiological risk factors as age, sex, race, weight or general body size, job duties, and length of time on the job, with one worker having CTS and the other worker not having CTS.

The instruments used in the study were the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Life Style Approaches (LSA), the Self-Control Schedule (SCS), the Self-Control Questionnaire (SQ), the Cohen-Hoberman Inventory of Physical Symptoms (CHIPS), and the Lisa Vogelsang Inventory (LVI), an arbitrarily named inventory developed by the author to measure joint problems other than the wrist and specific medical problems previously identified as risk factors for CTS. Logistic Regression was used to determine the differences between the two groups on the independent variables as well as to find the combination (model) of psychological variables that best predicts membership in the CTS and non-CTS groups. The results indicated that five out of the seven inventories (SRRS, PSS, LSA, CHIPS, and LVI) demonstrated significant differences between CTS and non-CTS subjects as single factor models to at least the p<.05 level. The SQ and SCS were not found to discriminate between the two groups/pairs as independent models.

The best model was a combination of the LSA, SRRS, and LVI, which was significant at the p<.01 level. The best model using only the psychological variables was the combination of the LSA and SRRS, which was significant at p<.05. Although there can be no statements of clear causality, the results of this present study may indicate that stressful life events and poor self-management skills, especially in the presence of current or past problems with other joints, are indeed highly discriminating factors in CTS etiology when other physical factors are relatively even. Further studies demonstrating a direct causal link between psychological variables (e.g., stressful life events and poor self- management) and CTS are recommended.

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