Abstract
Introduction:
the isolated care of patients with repetitive strain injury/work-related musculoskeletal disorders (RSI/WMSD) by different professionals is insufficient to cover all health and social aspects affected by these injuries.
Objective:
to report the interdisciplinary joint work between Physiotherapy and Psychology, developed through quality of life (QOL) groups for RSI/WMSD patients, at the Centro de Referência de Saúde do Trabalhador (Worker’s Health Reference Center) in Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil.
Methods:
we analyzed the QOLs groups reports from 2009 to 2014, and the recordings of the two most recent groups meetings.
Discussion:
the RSI/WMSD patients’ personal and professional identities were affected by their falling ill, the disease invisibility, the long periods of treatment and consequent absences from work, as well as by the social exclusion resulting from all these situations. The QOL group provided the sick workers with a space for reflection and socialization, and helped them recover their identity and citizenship. Physiotherapy and Psychology interdisciplinary joint work carried out in the groups was essential to face the RSI/WMSD complexity and its multiple factors. It also contributed to broaden the physioterapists’ and psychologists’ visions and experiences, supplying them with the needed tools to pursue a more integrated and humanized approach towards sick workers.
Keywords:
quality of life; occupational health; cumulative trauma injuries; occupational low back pain