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ISSN 1051-9815 (P)
ISSN 1875-9270 (E)
Impact Factor 2024: 1.7
WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary, international journal which publishes high quality peer-reviewed manuscripts covering the entire scope of the occupation of work. The journal's subtitle has been deliberately laid out: The first goal is the prevention of illness, injury, and disability. When this goal is not achievable, the attention focuses on assessment to design client-centered intervention, rehabilitation, treatment, or controls that use scientific evidence to support best practice.
WORK occasionally publishes thematic issues, but in general, issues cover a wide range of topics such as ergonomic considerations with children, youth and students, the challenges facing an aging workforce, workplace violence, injury management, performing artists, ergonomic product evaluations, and the awareness of the political, cultural, and environmental determinants of health related to work.
Dr. Karen Jacobs, the founding editor, and her editorial board especially encourage the publication of research studies, clinical practice, case study reports, as well as personal narratives and critical reflections of lived work experiences (autoethnographic/autobiographic scholarship),
Sounding Board commentaries and
Speaking of Research articles which provide the foundation for better understanding research to facilitate knowledge dissemination.
Narrative Reflections on Occupational Transitions, a new column, is for persons who have successfully transitioned into, between, or out of occupations to tell their stories in a narrative form. With an internationally renowned editorial board,
WORK maintains high standards in the evaluation and publication of manuscripts. All manuscripts are reviewed expeditiously and published in a timely manner.
WORK prides itself on being an author-friendly journal.
WORK celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015.
*WORK is affiliated with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT)* *WORK is endorsed by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)* *WORK gives out the yearly Cheryl Bennett Best Paper Award*
Abstract: Objective: School children use information and communication technology (ICT) on a regular basis for a variety of purposes. The purpose of this study was to document how school children spend their time and the different types of ICT they use. Methods: Nine Australian primary school children were observed in their school and away-from-school environments during one school day to record their ICT usage, comparing self-report exposures with direct observations. Self-reported discomfort scores were obtained…throughout the day. Results: Paper-based ICT (Old ICT) was mostly used for productive occupations at school, while electronic-based ICT (New ICT) was mostly used during leisure in away-from-school locations. Tasks involving no ICT (Non-ICT) accounted for the largest proportion of time in both locations during self-care, leisure and instrumental occupations. End-of-day self-reported time performing different occupations was consistent with data from independent observations. Self reported time using Old ICT and New ICT was marginally over-estimated, and time spent using Non-ICT was marginally under-estimated. Conclusion: The children in this study used a variety of ICT in the performance of daily occupations in their natural environments. New ICT use was primarily for leisure, but time spent was less than reported in other studies. Discomfort reports among the participants were low. Participants' self-reports of occupations performed and ICT use was reliable and could be useful as an exposure assessment metric.
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Keywords: ICT, tasks, variation, direct observation, self-report
Abstract: Objective: There are concerns that insufficient variation in postural and muscle activity associated with use of modern information and communication technology (ICT) presents a risk for musculoskeletal ill-health among school children. However, scientific knowledge on physical exposure variation in this group is limited. The purpose of this study was to quantify postures and muscle activity of school children using different types of ICT. Method: Postures of the head, upper back and upper arm, and muscle…activity of the right and left upper trapezius and right forearm extensors were measured over 10–12 hours in nine school children using different types of ICT at school and away-from-school. Variation in postures and muscle activity was quantified using two indices, EVA_{sd} and APDF_{(90-10)} . Results: Paper-based (Old) ICT tasks produced postures that were less neutral but more variable than electronics-based (New ICT) and Non-ICT tasks. Non-ICT tasks involved mean postures similar to New ICT tasks, but with greater variation. Variation of muscle activity was similar between ICT types in the right and left upper trapezius muscles. Non-ICT tasks produced more muscle activity variation in the right forearm extensor group compared to New and Old ICT tasks. Conclusion: Different ICT tasks produce different degrees of variation in posture and muscle activity. Combining tasks that use different ICT may increase overall exposure variation. More research is needed to determine what degree of postural and muscle activity variation is associated with reduced risk of musculoskeletal ill-health.
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