This is a systematic review of studies examining musculoskeletal disorders in sign language interpreters. The review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database [12] under registration number CRD42020178849. This protocol was structured according to the guidelines of the Preferred Report Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) [13] (see Additional file 1).
The guiding question of this study was: what is the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in sign language professionals due to their professional performance?
Eligibility criteria
The studies will be selected according to the criteria described below:
Participants
Studies with people of both sexes, with or without pathologies.
Study designs
Only observational studies that used generic or specific tools to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in sign language interpreters should be included. Qualitative studies will be excluded.
Interventions or exposure
Professionals who act as sign language interpreters. Exclusion of professionals from other functions.
Comparators
Not applicable.
Outcomes
Primary outcome
The main outcome to be considered is the prevalence of different musculoskeletal disorders described in the studies according to the instruments used.
Secondary outcomes
Secondary results will not be considered in this review.
Search methods
The terms that will be used in the search were consulted in the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) [14] and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) [15],
Searches will be conducted in the following databases: Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS) [16], Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) [17], ScienceDirect [18], Scopus Elsevier [19], United States National Library of Medicine (PubMED) [20], Web of Science [21]. The search for the articles will take place in the year 2020 and no date filters and database languages will be used.
The reference lists of the included articles will be analyzed to ensure studies that have not been found by searching the databases. For database searches, the following keywords or search terms will be used: "Cumulative Trauma Disorders" OR "Cumulative Trauma Disorder" OR "Disorder, Cumulative Trauma" OR "Disorder, Repetitive Motion" OR "Disorders, Cumulative Trauma" OR "Disorders, Repetitive Motion" OR "Injuries, Overuse" OR "Injuries, Repetition Strain" OR "Injuries, Repetitive Strain" OR "Injuries, Repetitive Stress" OR "Injury, Overuse" OR "Injury, Repetition Strain" OR "Injury, Repetitive Strain" OR "Injury, Repetitive Stress" OR "Motion Disorder, Repetitive" OR "Motion Disorders, Repetitive" OR "Overuse Injuries" OR "Overuse Injury" OR "Overuse Syndrome" OR "Overuse Syndromes" OR "Repetition Strain Injuries" OR "Repetition Strain Injury" OR "Repetitive Motion Disorder" OR "Repetitive Motion Disorders" OR "Repetitive Strain Injuries" OR "Repetitive Strain Injury" OR "Repetitive Stress Injuries" OR "Repetitive Stress Injury" OR "Strain Injuries, Repetition" OR "Strain Injuries, Repetitive" OR "Strain Injury, Repetition" OR "Strain Injury, Repetitive" OR "Stress Injuries, Repetitive" OR "Stress Injury, Repetitive" OR "Trauma Disorder, Cumulative" OR "Trauma Disorders, Cumulative" AND "sign language interpreter" OR "Interpreters" OR "Interpreter" OR "Sign Language Translator" OR "Translator”. The data found in the search process will be organized in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Selection of studies
Two independent reviewers will conduct the search following three phases. After each phase, the authors will check the included and excluded studies and in case of disagreement the authors will analyze and decide on the studies' eligibility for review.
In phase 1, the titles of the articles identified by the research will be selected according to the following criteria:
Is the study with sign language interpreters? (Yes, it is not clear or not)
Is it a study of musculoskeletal disorders? (Yes, it is not clear or not)
In phase 2, the abstracts of the studies selected in phase 1 will be read and selected according to the following criteria:
Is the study with sign language interpreters? (Yes, it is not clear or not)
Is it a study of musculoskeletal disorders? (Yes, it is not clear or not)
Is it an observational study? (Yes, it is not clear or not)
Does the study use any instrument for the analysis of musculoskeletal disorders? (Yes, it is not clear or not)
In phase 3, the studies will be read in full and a table will be drawn up with the following information:
Authors' names
Country of origin
Study title
Year of publication of the study
Objective of the study
Analysis tool
Sample Number