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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: Telemedicine has emerged as an effective tool for providing high quality healthcare service and health-related information, especially in rural areas. Rural areas often have a larger elderly population with greater rates of preventable disease. These areas also have fewer medical resources and specialists, and have limited access to health services, all of which can influence overall health. An internet-based telemedicine system can be one solution to provide the rural elderly with the proper health information when needed. The elderly obviously have limited capabilities compared with younger adults in the use of internet technology. However, the interfaces of the currently existing…internet-based telemedicine systems are not specifically developed for elderly users. This paper suggests future interface design research for an internet-based telemedicine system specifically for the elderly.
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Abstract: Gerontolinguistic obtains a growing importance with the increase of elderly users due to Demographic Change. Since acceptance and ease of use of supportive systems for elderly, such as “E-Nursing-Assistants“, are highly dependent on the age suitable design of readable instructions, an age-appropriate linguistic concept is of high value for usability. There has been only little research on the relevance of foreign words, signal words, textual arrangement, optical accentuation of key terms and temporal iconicity concerning older users. Thus, an efficient design of age suitable manual instructions within a medical context still remains to be done. The objective of this research…was to evaluate the relevance of the previously mentioned factors in the context of written instructions. For this, an empirical survey was designed which was given to 45 study participants. The subjects of the experiment were given 4x3 instructions after a pretest questionnaire. The aim was to execute these instructions as correctly and quickly as possible. Furthermore the instructions were rated regarding comprehensibility with a retrospective questionnaire.
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Keywords: readability, 50+, temporal iconicity, linguistic factors, layout factors
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0182-357
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 357-361, 2012
Abstract: As the world population is ageing, studies on the socio-economic and health consequences are proliferating. Little has been done on the effectiveness and impact elderly may benefit from the use of technology in their everyday life. The pilot study, implemented within a funded project aimed at identifying sustainable actions to promote Seniors’ quality of life, intended to investigate this kind of interaction in terms of accessibility and acceptability that senior citizen experience with technological devices promoting motor and cognitive training. In the hypothesis, interfaces and technological artifacts, that still take in little account the seniors’ physical characteristics (e.g. physiological limitations…in sight, hearing, movement) and cognitive processes (selective memory often driven by practical needs), can cause elderly to mistrust technology. Study participants were twenty over seventy-year-old people, who were observed and interviewed in context in a two-hour training session regarding the technological devices user experience. The results are presented with scenario-based techniques that help represent typologies of users in different use situations. Findings confirm the hypothesis, highlighting that elderly may accept technological artifacts when they perceive them as bringing benefits in terms of well-being and health.
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Keywords: ageing, quality of life, usability, interaction design
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0183-362
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 362-369, 2012
Abstract: The elderly are at an increased risk for being diagnosed with diabetes. While previous studies have examined technique errors when a patient used his or her current blood glucometer or a single novel glucometer, no study has measured errors as a patient transferred to using a second, novel experimental glucometer. Results support findings that older adults perform more slowly and less accurately than younger adults when transferring between pieces of equipment. Implications for future blood glucometer design and training are discussed.
Keywords: healthcare, aging, medical devices, blood glucose monitor
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0184-370
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 370-373, 2012
Abstract: This study was conducted with older adults living in a long-stay institution in the city of Foz do Iguacu, Parana, Brazil with the objective of assessing the influence of muscle strength loss in the risk of falls. The sample consisted of 65 elderly who walk without the aid of support for locomotion, 37 women and 28 men, aged between 67 and 80 years. The risk of falls was assessed through the TUG test. To determine the handgrip strength, a hand dynamometer model Jamar ( was used, which provides the result in kg / force (kgf), being held only with the…dominant hand. The results showed that in the last 12 months, only 32% of the elderly surveyed had no fall and the average handgrip strength was 24.32 ( 11.22 kgf; 40% had one fall and the average handgrip strength was 23.82 ( 10.18 kgf; 8% had two falls and the average handgrip strength was 19.48 ( 8.21 kgf and 20% had more than one fall and the average handgrip strength of 18.13 ( 7.33 Kgf., indicating that the force levels are statistically lower among elderly at high risk of falls (p> 0.05). It was concluded that the lower the force level, the greater the likelihood of falls. Thus, it is important to stress that due to the loss of muscle strength, all ergonomic hazards and architectural barriers must be removed so that older adults can perform their tasks more easily, with comfort and safety.
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Keywords: aging, ergonomics, accident
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0185-374
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 374-379, 2012
Abstract: The EU and its Member States have identified population ageing as one of the key economic and social challenges to be faced. A high employment rate for older workers is essential. The ability to work is a prerequisite for a high employment rate for older workers. From 1965-2000, we carried out physiological and ergonomic studies in enterprises in Estonia, Russia, Ukraine and Moldova and proposed measures to avoid health risks. Our investigations were commissioned by industrial enterprises to improve the workplace and working conditions. The most interesting finding was that it was possible to markedly postpone the development of ageing…changes in workers’ bodies by up to 20 years without major investments.
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Keywords: ergonomics, youth, ageing
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0186-380
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 380-382, 2012
Abstract: French companies are legally required to develop action plans to improve employment and work conditions for older workers (“plans seniors”). These plans contain measures oriented towards recruiting, career evolution, skills developme1nt, knowledge transmission and improvement of work conditions. A tool for assessing work situations experienced by council buildings caretakers (“gardiens”) was used in such a plan on behalf of the main agency of council housing in Paris, and we developed. This assessment tool was developed after ergonomic work analysis on a sample of 36 older caretakers (age > 57 y.o). The technical inspectors in charge of technical interventions on buildings…and managing caretakers were trained to use the assessment tool and apply it to all caretakers aged 50 and over.
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Keywords: work analysis, aging, social housing, management training
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-1004-383
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 383-387, 2012
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a regression equation that, incorporating the potential energy of the load in the hands, was capable of improved predictions of spinal compression forces. A stepwise polynomial equation was developed from EMG profiles of 15 muscles, and its spinal joint loading predictions at L4/L5 were compared to current methods of calculating spinal compression. Absolute muscle activation was shown to increase with increased loading height, indicating that the central nervous system responds to changes in spinal stability. The inclusion of potential energy into the calculation of spinal disc compression at L4/L5 improved estimates of…the compressive forces acting on the spine. This is the first model to incorporate potential energy into a predictive model for lumbar spine compression without the use of electromyography. It was concluded that potential energy plays a vital role in dictating the recruitment patterns of the trunk.
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Keywords: lifting, compression, low back loading
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0187-388
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 388-393, 2012
Abstract: Physical workload is a continuous problem, even in modern workplaces. The purpose of the survey was to determine the effect of support on employees’ physical load factors at workplaces. Training, guidance and support were the main focus areas of the early support intervention, which aimed to enable supervisors to find weak signals of impaired ergonomics. The survey was carried out in the form of a controlled longitudinal study, and the material was gathered via a questionnaire in both 2008 and 2010 from two co-operative trade groups. The final sample was 301 intervention subjects and 235 control subjects, and the…response rate was 45% in both groups. We applied factor analysis to reduce the number of items. The physical load factors’ sum score consisted of six items. We used logistic regression in the statistical analysis. Encouragement to improve processes at the workplace increased the probability of positive change (i.e. decrease) in physical load factors. The same applied to working pace, if individuals could control it themselves. In contrast, workload and the support of supervisors had a reversed impact on workers’ physical load factors. Focusing on promoting workers’ ergonomics is still important in workplaces when aiming to decrease physical load factors.
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Keywords: ergonomics, weak signals, effects, intervention, follow-up study
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0188-394
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 394-396, 2012
Abstract: Recently, an equation was developed to predict maximal acceptable effort (MAE) for repetitive tasks based on the product of task frequency and effort duration (ie. duty cycle). This equation has been shown to closely match data from psychophysical studies of the upper extremities. In the current paper, the applicability of this equation was tested on lifting and lowering data from Snook and Ciriello (1991) and was found to fit closely, even at very low duty cycles.
Keywords: psychophysics, strength, maximum acceptable effort, ergonomic limits
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0189-397
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 397-400, 2012
