The primary purpose of this study was to begin exploring the relationship between various components of the Perceived Stress Cumulative Trauma Model (PSCTM), with particular emphasis on explicating the role of perceived psychological stress in the model. A secondary purpose was to determine the prevalence of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders (UECTDs) in the study sample. The sample was 354 workers from three different manufacturing companies. The primary job exposure for the subjects was that they were engaged in jobs that involved repetitious movements of the upper extremities, primarily of the hands and arms. Data collection included: a detailed medical history, a comprehensive physical examination of the upper extremities, limited electrodiagnostic testing Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale, Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire, demographic information, and a measurement of repetition.

Descriptive analyses, analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlational analyses, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression were used to examine the data. Several different UECTD outcomes were used in model testing. Perceived psychological stress, as measured in the study, was not a significant predictor for the majority of the UECTD outcomes. However, perceived psychological stress was a weak predictor of upper extremity subjective symptom reporting, especially subjective symptoms involving the area of the neck, shoulders, and upper arms.

Repetition, a previous history of soft tissue injury, and female gender were predictors for the majority of the UECTD outcomes. In general, UECTD outcomes that were examined did not result in stable models of prediction. The major limitations that possibly accounted for the low prediction was the difficulty in measuring perceived psychological stress in one time period only and possible omission of key elements in model testing. Like most psychosocial phenomena, perceived stress is a complex construct, one that is difficult to correlate with health outcomes. Further research is necessary to examine what role, if any, that perceived stress may have in the etiology of UECTDs.