Work : a Journal of Prevention, Assessment, and Rehabilitation

BACKGROUND: The arrival of COVID-19 in Brazil and the accelerated process of dissemination/contamination added to the evolution of the clinical picture of the disease, and the saturation of the capacity of health services, creating new challenges for researchers, governments, and professionals involved in the occupational health area. OBJECTIVE: This article aims to systematize and synthesize the proposals adopted by the legislation and by the Brazilian State, with a focus on worker protection and guaranteeing a safe work environment for the performance of their professional activities...

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has greatly affected healthcare workers at the physical and psychosocial level. In this process, primary healthcare workers have taken the most active role by taking part in the filiation groups. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the anxiety and workload perception level of primary healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. An online survey was conducted among 197 healthcare workers...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the emotional intelligence of employees through the negative effects on their mental health, and led to poor workplace performance. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research is to examine the level of EI of Malaysian employees in various sectors affecting their job performance through the mediating influence of psychological capital by using the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Test (SSEIT), 24-item Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24) and Role-Based Performance Scale (RBPS) theories...

BACKGROUND: To enable (pain free) functioning, individuals with brachial plexus injury (BPI) may require a higher functional capacity compared to two-handed individuals, because the load on unaffected structures is greater. OBJECTIVE: This study compared the functional capacity of individuals with BPI and healthy controls and explored differences in the functional capacity of BPI-affected individuals with respect to: those with and without hand function; affected and unaffected sides; with and without musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs)...

BACKGROUND: The automotive industry is labor-intensive, and workers are involved in highly repetitive tasks, long hours, and medium to low workloads, resulting in work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), which have become a major health concern for workers in this industry. China is a major automotive country with tens of thousands of auto repair workers, but their conditions of WMSDs have been poorly reported. OBJECTIVE: This work aimed to analyze the current prevalence of WMSDs and their associated risk factors among automobile maintenance workers...

BACKGROUND: Practicing incorrect postures in online and virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic can cause significant study-related musculoskeletal problems among students. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the knowledge, attitude, and practice of sitting posture and computer ergonomics and study-related musculoskeletal problems in undergraduates who followed online education during the pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey among a cohort of Sri Lankan medical undergraduates was conducted using a structured questionnaire with 56 multiple-choice or Yes/No type questions...

BACKGROUND: Active patient engagement and adherence are essential for successful rehabilitation outcomes, particularly in complex cases such as work-related musculoskeletal injuries. Although the therapist-patient relationship is a significant component of successful care coordination, there has been limited examination of this relationship within upper extremity musculoskeletal rehabilitation. OBJECTIVE: To explore therapists' perspectives on how the therapist-patient relationship intersects with engagement and adherence in the provision of holistic and collaborative rehabilitation services...

BACKGROUND: Medical work is a complex and interpersonally sensitive job; clinicians interact with patients, colleagues and society-at-large daily, and they are under pressure from a variety of sources. The doctor-patient relationship is of particular concern. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current mental health status of hospital staff and related influencing factors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: The Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) were used to survey the current mental health status of hospital employees...

BACKGROUND: The importance to be able to work is recognised as one of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. Occupational therapists working in vocational rehabilitation require cost effective, valid, and reliable tests that offer flexibility during the work evaluation process. The use of self-developed work samples standardized using Modular Arrangement of Predetermined Time Standards (MODAPTS) as an objective measure of work speed could meet this need. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the face, content, and criterion validity of MODAPTS work samples to assess work speed...

BACKGROUND: Patient safety is currently a main issue in healthcare practice. Adverse events (AEs) management is a key instrument for the application of strategies to prevent harm to patients. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the type, severity and preventability, according to validated scales, of AEs occurring annually in the healthcare practice of an Occupational Mutual Insurance Company in order to implement action plans to improve patient safety. METHODS: We analyzed the reported AEs in an Incident Reporting System and AEs detected in the Audit program of clinical records as a result of treating injured or ill workers in our 88 ambulatory care centers...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown has increased the burden of unpaid care work. Hence it is essential to evaluate the crisis response in change of women's work burden and gender norms of their unpaid care work and social status. OBJECTIVE: To investigate change in women's job roles after second the wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on physical and psychological burden of work along with identification of common contributors of gendering of care work...

BACKGROUND: In India, where agriculture is the prime occupation among the rural population, farmers are extensively using pesticides in crop production without taking adequate precautions. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to examine pesticide usage patterns, usage of personal protective equipment (PPE), knowledge on pesticide toxicity, and attitude towards occupational safety among farmers diagnosed with leukaemia (n = 60), lymphoma (n = 33), and breast cancer (n = 30) visiting a tertiary cancer care hospital in Hyderabad, India...

BACKGROUND: This paper focuses on the concept of career construction based on the theory of conservation of resources to understand the overall effect of career capital on career success from both a subjective and objective manner through the mediating effect of perceived employability. OBJECTIVE: This study attempts to explain how different integrated aspects of career capital, including human, social, and psychological (antecedents), influence both subjective career success and objective career success (outcome) through the mediating effect of perceived employability (mediator)...

BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of mental illnesses has a serious impact on productive life and there is an urgent need to intervene using a variety of active and effective measures. OBJECTIVE: The concept of playfulness in space is introduced into the design of work spaces oriented towards active health interventions, creating a close interaction between the body and the space through play, thus developing a positive effect on the promotion of the physical and mental health of the staff...

BACKGROUND: With progressing technology in the portable computing field, laptops are now integral for work, home and social settings. Different working postures adopted by laptop users impose different loads on the relevant muscles, which can be associated with musculoskeletal discomfort in the various body regions. Some Arabic and Asian cultures adopted postures are not well investigated, particularly for the 20-30 years age-group. OBJECTIVE: This study compared muscle activity in the cervical spine, arm, and wrist among different laptop workstation setups...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Both the development of various countries and people's health were impacted by the unforeseen global COVID-19 outbreak. Many countries prefer to do their daily business online. Although it was incredibly useful at the time, it still had a problem that was not properly addressed, especially among the student population. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of upper extremity neural mobility among students who were using smart devices during the COVID-19 pandemic...

BACKGROUND: Workers' health and well-being are topics on the rise within occupational research. Rogers' science of unitary human beings can potentially contribute to increased knowledge in the area. However, no previous review has investigated how the theory has been used in relation to workers in working life. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this scoping review was to provide an overview of studies that have used Rogers' science of unitary human beings to study workers health and well-being in working life...

BACKGROUND: How to help workers establish a safe and healthy working environment is the primary purpose of promoting workplace health psychology. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between interpersonal resources and job performance (work performance, organizational citizen behavior). Besides, this study tries to clarify the psychological mechanisms of vitality and emotional attachment, and further considers the moderating role of group harmony...

BACKGROUND: Prolonged and sustained work posture among computer users is one of the main factors that contributes to musculoskeletal discomfort. Rest-break interventions such as task variation and microbreaks may help prevent muscle fatigue and work-related musculoskeletal disorder. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the effects of task variation and microbreaks at seated and standing workstations on forearm muscle activity, namely extensor digitorum communis, extensor carpi ulnaris, flexor digitorum superficialis, and flexor carpi ulnaris; mouse operation force (vertical compression force); mouse operation parameters; and perceived body discomfort during mouse operation...