WORK: A Journal of Prevention,Assessment & Rehabilitation

Given the global nature of schoolbag carriage, there has been extensive research on schoolbag weight and use with resultant guidance on many aspects of carrying a schoolbag. However, there is limited evidence of knowledge translation or parents’ awareness of schoolbag carriage.

This study investigated parental awareness of factors related to schoolbag carriage.

A cross-sectional survey using an anonymous 30-item questionnaire and purposive sampling was used. Questionnaires were distributed to parents of primary school children through the schools. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages were used and associations were tested using Chi-square analysis in SPSS v23.

A total of 700 parents in Ireland (Ire) and the United States (US) participated in the study (n = 444 [Ire] and n = 256 [US]). Generally, parents had satisfactory awareness of appropriate schoolbag type and carriage. The majority of children owned a backpack (89.9% [Ire] vs. 93.7% [US]), although fewer parents considered this to be the most suitable bag for their child (69.6% [Ire] vs. 88.2% [US]). More Irish parents (29.2%) favoured a wheeled schoolbag compared to US parents (6.2%) (p < 0.001). The majority (70.8% [Ire] vs. 55.7% [US]) wanted more information. The preferred platforms for receiving information were a handout (78.1% [Ire] vs. 71.6% [US]) and on-line (44.6% [Ire] vs. 53.9% [US]).

Despite gaps identified, parents had good awareness of factors relating to schoolbag carriage, but this study shows that they would like more information. The preferred platform for knowledge translation was a handout. Parents are the best advocates for safety promotion and represent the group most likely to improve schoolbag carriage among children.

Labour market participation (LMP) represents a key goal of rehabilitation for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). To achieve this goal, Swiss SCI rehabilitation centres seek, together with their clients, viable follow-up solutions for returning to work after initial rehabilitation. However, the long-term outcomes of such vocational follow-up solutions have not been investigated so far, and there is a paucity of knowledge regarding the various types of employment pathways that persons with SCI living in Switzerland may experience.

To examine long-term employment pathways as experienced by individuals with SCI living in Switzerland.

A qualitative descriptive study design involving narrative interviews with individuals who completed vocational rehabilitation (VR) during their initial rehabilitation. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and data analysed using an inductive thematic analysis approach.

The analysis of the 15 interviews revealed four employment pathways: the pathway of no paid work, the pathway of retraining, the pathway of job adaptation and the pathway of continuing work.

Apart from three pathways leading towards paid employment, our results revealed one pathway that was characterized by permanent unemployment. Individuals facing a pathway of no paid work may benefit from more custom-made vocational follow-up solutions and prolonged job coaching after initial VR.

Cumulative effects of high-impact vertical forces, like those experienced on an open-ocean mission, could be an injury concern for the cervical spine.

Compare cervical range of motion (ROM) and strength measures between students and NSW Crewmen and secondarily to compare these measures between students and Crewmen separated into three groups based on years of service.

A volunteer sample of 186 students (age: 22.8±3.1 years) and 167 Operators (age: 26.9±5.1 years) completed cervical isometric strength (% BW) and ROM (°) measurements using a handheld dynamometer and CROM-3 device, respectively. Independent samples t-tests were done to evaluate differences between students and Crewmen. Analysis of Variance and appropriate post-hoc tests were calculated to compare students to Crewmen separated into three groups based on years of service. Data is reported as mean±SD and (student mean vs. Operator mean).

Students demonstrated higher flexion strength (21.7±4.9 vs. 19.1±5.0) and greater ROM: flexion (54.3±10.6 vs. 51.2±9.2), and extension (77.0±14.4 vs. 71.3±11.4) than Crewmen. Students demonstrated greater flexion strength than Crewmen with ≤2 (19.4±5.1), 3–6 (19.4±5.3), and ≥7 (18.6±4.7) years of service.

Students demonstrated greater cervical strength and ROM. A trend of decreasing ROM/strength in Crewmen with greater years of service was also observed.

The Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) is a tool used in the return-to-work process to guide treatment and decision making. Individual abilities and maximum capacity can be determined through visual observations of changes in mechanics as intensity increases.

The purpose of this study was to determine kinematic differences between sexes and intensity levels of two common FCE tasks to establish normative behaviours.

Upper limb and torso kinematics were collected from 30 participants as they performed the overhead lift and overhead work FCE tasks. Mean, maximum, and minimum values were calculated for clinically relevant joint angles. Mean and maximum segment velocity was also calculated and each variable was tested with a mixed model ANOVA.

During the overhead lift task, maximum torso flexion and maximum torso extension increased from the lightest to the heaviest load. Humeral flexion angle at the beginning of the lift and wrist ulnar deviation also increased with load. Torso extension, humeral flexion and axial rotation, and wrist extension all increased with time during the overhead work task.

Increasing intensity during the overhead tasks influenced kinematic variables. These observable changes can be used by evaluators to more reliably determine safe maximum capacities for each patient and identify compensatory actions.

In Sweden, homecare services take care of elderly and disabled people, work that often requires heavy lifting and forward bending, resulting in high prevalences of pain and work accidents.

Using an eight-year follow-up, this study determines the prognostic importance of certain musculoskeletal signs reported in earlier studies [1, 2] with respect to aspects of pain and perceived disability.

Baseline data has been reported in earlier studies of 607 women [1–3]. This study uses a postal questionnaire survey and reports the results of eight years post initial study.

Segmental pain at L4-L5 and/or L5-S1 levels was associated with higher low back pain intensity and disability at the eight-year follow-up. A decrease in low back pain intensity over eight years was larger for those with segmental pain. The important signs in the longitudinal analyses of pain aspects and disability were lumbar spinal mobility and segmental pain at L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels, but the explained variations were low.

Evaluation of low lumbar segmental pain provocation and mobility should be considered in routine clinical assessments, as this type of evaluation provides prognostic pain and disability information over time.

Miners work in highly hazardous environments, but surprisingly, there are more fatalities from occupational diseases, including cancers, than from fatalities from injuries. Over the last few decades, the mining environment has become safer with fewer injuries and less exposure to the toxins that lead to occupational disease. There have been improvements in working conditions, and a reduction in the number of workers exposed, together with an overall improvement in the health of miners.

This study attempted to gain a deeper understanding of the impetus for change to reduce occupational exposures or toxins at the industry level. It focuses on one mining community in Sudbury, Ontario, with a high cancer rate, and its reduction in occupational exposures. It explored the level of awareness of occupational exposures from the perspective of industry and worker representatives in some of the deepest mines in the world. Although awareness may be necessary, it is often not a sufficient impetus for change, and it is this gap between awareness and change that this study explored. It examined the awareness of occupational disease as an impetus to reducing toxic exposures in the mining sector, and explores other forces of change at the industrial and global levels that have led to an impact on occupational exposures in mining.

From 2014 and 2016, 60 interviews were conducted with individuals who were part of, or witness to the changes in mining in Sudbury. From these, 12 labour and 10 industry interviews and four focus groups were chosen for further analysis to gain a deeper understanding of industry and labour’s views on the changes in mining and the impact on miners’ health from occupational exposures. The results from this subsection of the data is the focus for this paper.

The themes that emerged told a story about Sudbury. There is awareness of occupational exposures, but this awareness is dwarfed in comparison to the attention that is given to the tragic fatal injuries from injuries and accidents. The mines are now owned by foreign multinationals with a change from an engaged, albeit paternalistic sense of responsibility for the health of the miners, to a less responsive or sympathetic workplace culture. Modernization has led to the elimination, substitution, or reduction of some of the worst toxins, and hence present-day miners are less exposed to hazards that lead to occupational disease than they were in the past. However, modernization and the drop in the price of nickel has also led to a precipitous reduction in the number of unionized miners, a decline in union power, a decline in the monitoring of present-day exposures, and an increase in non-unionized contract workers. The impact has been that miners have lost their solidarity and power to investigate, monitor or object to present-day exposures.

Although an increase in the awareness of occupational hazards has made a contribution to the reduction in occupational exposures, the improvement in health of miners may be considered more as a “collateral benefit” of the changes in the mining sector. Multiple forces at the industrial and global level have differentially led to an improvement in the working and living environment. However, with the loss of union power, the miners have lost their major advocate for miner health.

Hand screen-printing (HSP) plays a predominant role in textile industries in developing countries. Workers from HSP industry were mostly affected by musculoskeletal injury due to monotonous, and prolonged work nature and poor workplace environment.

The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) symptoms and risk factors associated among the HSP industry workers.

Cochran’s sample size for categorical data was used to select 385 HSP workers of 1000 samples from various provinces of Tamil Nadu, INDIA. Modified Nordic based questionnaire was used to assess the musculoskeletal injuries and risk factors among HSP workers.

The statistical analysis revealed that 62.5% workers are prone to MSD symptoms with lower back (75.1%), shoulder (66.2%), knees (58.7%), and ankle/feet (55.6%). Age, experience, marital status, stress in the job were the risk factors which significantly (p < 0.05) associated with the reported MSDs. Further, this study result infers that the subjects with higher age and experience are exposed higher levels of MSD prevalence of 85.5% and 92.0% respectively in past 12 months than other groups. Among the different work categories in HSP task, the workers reported with the maximum discomfort during printing work (63.1%) with Odds ratio as 10.38 and 95% CI is 6.18–17.4. than the material handling and drying task.

Study results infer that HSP workers are prone to lower back and shoulder pain followed by knees and ankle feet regions. Socio-demographic factors, awkward posture and repetitive movements contribute to cause MSD among hand screen-printing workers.

Variability in patient care settings and the range of patient handling tasks present challenges in developing and evaluating safe patient handling and mobilization (SPHM) programs.

We performed a systematic meta-analysis of SPHM program evaluations.

Systematic literature review identified published SPHM program evaluations. Injury Rate Ratios (IRR), pre- to post-intervention, were used to estimate intervention effects and to examine the influence of patient care level, program components, and follow-up time using meta-regression.

27 articles reported evaluations from 44 sites. Combined effect estimate for all SPHM programs was 0.44 (95% CI 0.36, 0.54), reflecting substantial injury reductions after program implementation. While specific program components were not associated with greater effectiveness, longer follow-up duration was associated with greater injury rate reduction (p = 0.01) and intervention effects varied by level of care (p = 0.01), with the greatest effect in intensive care unit interventions (IRR 0.14; 95% CI 0.07, 0.30).

SPHM programs appear to be highly effective in reducing injuries. More research is needed to identify the most effective interventions for different patient care levels.

After two strong earthquakes in the Emilia region in Italy, many HCWs had to deal with the psychological consequences of the aftershocks.

The aims of this case study were a) to describe the psychosocial condition of the HCWs affected by the earthquake; b) to present an intervention immediately after the earthquake on HCWs in a post-disaster situation using a mixed-method approach.

A mixed-method study was conducted collecting qualitative data (during Group Counselling sessions) and quantitative data (through questionnaires).

The results suggested that the impact of the earthquake was very strong, as more than 80% perceived at least a severe impact event capable of altering their ability to function; most of the thoughts and feelings were related to death and fear.

This study adds knowledge about how to plan interventions aiming to help those workers at both individual and organisational level.

Psychosocial work factors and general recovery experiences are hypothesised to influence the risk of low back pain (LBP) occurrence by influencing the acute recovery-stress state. So far, however, direct links between the acute recovery-stress state and LBP occurrence have not been investigated in detail.

The aim of this study was to investigate differences in low back pain occurrence between four distinct recovery-stress groups over a period of 6 month.

A prospective cohort study with a 3-month and 6-month follow-up measurement was conducted in a sample of administrative employees (N = 271). First, the sample was divided into four distinct recovery-stress groups by cluster analysis. Subsequently, differences in LBP occurrence between these four groups and the Relative Risk (RR) were analysed.

Overall, groups with higher stress than recovery scores showed a higher risk of LBP occurrence compared to those groups with lower stress than recovery scores. Furthermore, the group with the highest stress and lowest recovery scores showed a significant higher proportion of LBP occurrence after six months than the group with the lowest stress and highest recovery scores (RR = 7.29).

The results indicate the relevance of the acute recovery-stress state for LBP occurrence.

Prevention of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WRMSDs) is crucial as they jeopardize the well-being of the workforce in workplaces and are prevalent in developed and developing countries.

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of WRMSDs among Iranian workers.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of WRMSDs in Iran was performed by searching relevant keywords in authentic databases and search engines such as SID, Google Scholar, Medlib and PubMed. Twenty-seven published articles in the field of WRMSDs from 2001 to 2010 were searched. Meta-analysis and random effects approach were used to analyze data. Heterogeneity investigation of articles was done using I² index.

The total sample size was 6,090 workers with a mean of 225 samples per study. The upper and lower back had the highest prevalence rate of self-reported WRMSDs with 38.1% (95% CI: 29.9–46.4), and 50% (95% CI: 42.5–57.5), respectively. Also, knee had the highest prevalence among lower extremity disorders with 42.1% prevalence rate (95% CI:35.1–49.1).

A high prevalence of WRMSDs in upper and lower limbs was reported in Iran. Trainings with regard to occupational ergonomics and industrial hygiene programs were recommended for minimizing the work-related risks of musculoskeletal disorders.

In The Netherlands, one out of six Dutch employees has informal care tasks; in the hospital and healthcare sector, this ratio is one out of four workers. Informal carers experience problems with the combination of work and informal care. In particular, they have problems with the burden of responsibility, a lack of independence and their health. These problems can reveal themselves in a variety of mental and physical symptoms that can result in absenteeism, reduction or loss of (work) participation, reduction of income, and even social isolation.

The aim of the study was to describe the factors that informal carers who are employed in healthcare organizations identify as affecting their quality of life, labour participation and health.

We conducted an exploratory study in 2013-2014 that included desk research and a qualitative study. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare employees who combine work and informal care. Data were analyzed with Atlas-TI.

We identified five themes: 1. Fear and responsibility; 2. Sense that one’s own needs are not being met; 3. Work as an escape from home; 4. Health: a lack of balance; and 5. The role of colleagues and managers: giving support and understanding.

Respondents combine work and informal care because they have no other solution. The top three reasons for working are: income, escape from home and satisfaction. The biggest problems informal carers experience are a lack of time and energy. They are all tired and are often or always exhausted at the end of the day. They give up activities for themselves, their social networks become smaller and they have less interest in social activities. Their managers are usually aware of the situation, but informal care is not a topic of informal conversation or in performance appraisals. Respondents solve their problems with colleagues and expect little from the organization.

Work-related fatigue is common among automobile factory employees.

The purpose of this study was to assess fatigue of employees at a Chinese automobile factory.

238 employees (119 engineers and 119 workers) participated in this study. The following questionnaires were completed: demographic survey questionnaire, working condition questionnaire (WCQ), functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-fatigue (FACIT-F), subscales of multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI), and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI).

Both engineers and workers experienced fatigue. The workers (35.6 years old, SD = 6.7) generally felt more fatigue than engineers (42.6 years old, SD = 6.4). The engineers claimed to be more satisfied with the working conditions than workers. The WCQ showed good properties for assessing work-related factors, which were significantly correlated with fatigue (r = 0.568 for engineers and r = 0.639 for workers). For engineers, general fatigue was observed regularly and frequently, and for workers, physical fatigue usually had a long duration.

The fatigue was significantly correlated with work-related factors, especially working environment and monotony. For workers, the duration of the work day also affected their fatigue. Some improvements to the working condition in this automobile factory should be considered.

There is a significantly high rate of work-related musculsokeletal injuries in sonography professionals. To date, assessment of risk factors for work- related injuries in sonographers has been based primarily on surveys, subjective reports, and observational methods. There is a need to develop quantitative techniques to better understand risk factors and develop preventive interventions.

We pilot tested a high-resolution force-measuring probe capable of precisely measuring forces applied through the transducer by sonographers and used this novel direct measurement technique to evaluate forces during abdominal imaging.

Twelve sonographers with varied experience, ranging from 1–33 years, performed routine abdominal scans on 10 healthy volunteers who had varied body mass indices (BMI). Imaging was conducted using the force-measuring probe, which provided real-time measurement of forces, and angles. Data were compared by sonographer years of experience and subject BMI.

In total, 47 abdominal examinations were performed as part of this study, and all images met standards for clinical diagnostic quality. The mean contact force applied across all exams was 8.2±4.3 Newtons (N) (range: 1.2–36.5 N). For subjects in the high BMI group (BMI>25, n = 4) the mean force was 10.5 N (range: 8.9–13.2 N) compared to 7.9 N (range: 5.9–10.9 N) for subjects with normal BMI (BMI = 18.5–25, n = 6). Similarly, the mean maximum force applied for subjects with high BMI (25.3 N) was significantly higher than force applied for subjects with normal BMI (17.4 N). No significant difference was noted in the amount of force applied by sonographers with more than 5 years of experience (n = 6) at 8.2 N (Range: 5.1–10.0 N) compared to less experienced sonographers (n = 6), whose forces averaged 8.1 N (Range: 5.8–10.0 N).

It is feasible to directly measure forces applied by sonographers using a high-resolution force measurement system. Forces applied during abdominal imaging vary widely, are significantly higher when scanning subjects with high BMI, and are not related to sonographer years of experience. This force measurement system has the potential to provide an additional quantitative data point to explore the impact of applied forces on sonographer related musculoskeletal injury, particularly in conjunction with various body positions, exam types and force durations.