Physical, psychological and social factors influencing musculoskeletal injury and wellbeing in Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professional students

Background

Nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals (NMAHPs) are uniquely exposed to physical, psychological and social factors associated with increased risks of developing mental health and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The project will fund a Post-doctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) to develop, pilot and validate a survey evaluating physical activity, lifestyle, physical preparedness, musculoskeletal injury, mental health, wellbeing and sickness in pre-registration NMAHP students. Once developed, the survey will be implemented nationally, following students through their careers, to create the UK’s largest NMAHP data set capturing factors influencing staff retention and workforce health, ultimately informing intervention development and policy to improve staff wellbeing.  

Project Summary

Through this project we will co-create a survey designed for NMAHP students with a steering group including NMAHP students and healthcare workers. This will be piloted with approximately 300 pre-registration students at Exeter University (Nursing and Medical Imaging) and Cardiff University (Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Nursing, Midwifery, Diagnostic Radiography, Radiotherapy). Our long-term goal is to implement this survey nationally across all pre-registration healthcare education programmes, establishing a definitive longitudinal dataset, forming a national database to track trends in healthcare professional health and inform intervention development in education and clinical settings. Alongside survey development, we will establish a network with universities and education organisations across the four UK nations to ensure the success of survey roll-out. Finally, we will pave the way for survey delivery by securing ethical approval for the first UK-wide longitudinal survey of healthcare professionals’ health and wellbeing.