Use of questionnaires in different cultures and occupational contexts

M3.1 SUBJECTIVE HEALTH COMPLAINTS

H. R. Eriksen, H. Ursin.Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen

“Subjective health complaints” are common in the general population, and are complaints without any verifiable organic disease, or the complaints are stronger than one would expect from the organic findings. The most common complaints are musculoskeletal pain, gastrointestinal complaints, and “pseudoneurology” (tiredness, sleep problems, fatigue, and mood changes). These complaints are common in the general population, and are the main reason for long term sickness leave and disability pension, at least in the Nordic countries. When investigating the prevalence and the possible explanatory factors of subjective health complaints across cultures we it is important to measure the subjective health complaints itself, not medical diagnosis or the attributions. These complaints may appear under different fashionable diagnoses, and the labels may change over time. We have measured subjective …