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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: BACKGROUND: There is little data available on job stress dimensions and their relationship to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among Iranian nurses. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to investigate job stress dimensions and examine their relationship to MSDs among nurses of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) hospitals. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 385~randomly selected nurses of SUMS participated. The Persian version of Job Content Questionnaire (P-JCQ) and Nordic MSDs questionnaire were…used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U test were applied for data analysis. RESULTS: Decision latitude and social support dimensions had low levels, but psychological and physical job demands as well as job insecurity dimensions had high levels among the nurses. 89.9% of the subjects experienced some form of MSDs during the last 12 months. Lower back symptoms were the most prevalent problem reported (61.8%). Physical isometric loads was the only sub-scale that had significant relationship with MSDs. CONCLUSIONS: In the majority of cases, subjects were exposed to high levels of job stress. MSDs prevalence was high. Based on the results, any interventional program for MSDs prevention should focus on reducing physical and psychological job demands as well as increasing decision latitudes.
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Abstract: BACKGROUND: Bus driving is a typically male occupation undergoing a process of feminization. Although men remain a majority, women's integration has raised some questions, namely, related to work organization or its impact on health. OBJECTIVE: This paper focuses on the contributions of assuming a gender perspective in the analysis of the bus driving occupation and the conditions under which it is performed. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty female and 158 male bus drivers. METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined. Ergonomic…work analysis and individual interviews were used, as well as INSAT (Work and Health Questionnaire). RESULTS: Difficulties inherent to the work activity were highlighted, in terms of working hours and management of "peripheral tasks", with implications for the balance between professional and personal life. These difficulties were reported differently by men and women, although both made themselves clear about the impact on their career and health. CONCLUSIONS: Taking gender into consideration has enabled an enrichment of the questions that guide the analysis of this work activity, and contributed to a new perspective on the work performed by this occupational group as well as a new approach to study the history of the transport industry by proposing as focus of analysis issues related to "gender mobility".
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Keywords: Typically male job, working hours, ergonomic work analysis, professional and personal life reconciliation, health
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Many people across the world believe that employment decisions are based on merit, on factors related to job knowledge, skills or abilities. People believe that decisions are biased or discriminatory if based on demographic criteria such as gender, race, caste, community, creed etc… unrelated to the job. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to explore the covert motives that might exist amongst senior managers when recruiting their desired candidates. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty senior managers belonging…to two international corporations based in western India participated. METHODS: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior as the theoretical foundation qualitative data was obtained through in-depth interviews with the sixty participants and analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: Content analysis based on the Theory of Planned Behavior revealed five main strategies of covert recruitment practices: fulfilling vested interests, obligation creation, cultural bias, mirror reflection and status enhancement. The research findings indicate that 25% of those interviewed used premeditated strategies when recruiting their desired candidates which they concealed from coworkers. However in order to generalize the findings of the present study, a study with a larger sample size across different industries need to be done. CONCLUSIONS: Covert actions were central to employee recruitment in these settings and are likely fundamental to a more complete understanding of managers' recruitment behaviors beyond the context of this study.
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Keywords: Recruitment, interview, qualitative analysis, India
Abstract: BACKGROUND: It is well accepted that both multifidus and transversus abdominis muscles have a vital role in maintaining spinal stability. OBJECTIVE: To determine if multifidus and transversus abdominis could be strengthened by a six-week conditioning program and to establish if the amount of electromyographic (EMG) activity in external oblique differed in a lifting and holding task after the conditioning program. METHODS: EMG activity of external oblique during a lifting and holding task was obtained. Multifidus…cross-sectional area and transversus abdominis width were measured using real time ultrasound in six males and five females, with no back pain (mean age of 26.3 (± 5.4) years). The participants then performed a six-week muscle-conditioning program for multifidus and transversus abdominis, after which the EMG activity of external oblique and dimensions of multifidus and transversus abdominis were re-measured. RESULTS: Both multifidus and transversus abdominis significantly increased in size. There was significantly less activity in external oblique during a lifting task after the conditioning program, with no change in external oblique activity during a holding task. CONCLUSIONS: this study may indicate a link between the dimensional increase of multifidus and transversus abdominis, and the decrease in EMG activity in external oblique during lifting.
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Keywords: Lifting, muscle conditioning and strengthening, EMG, real time ultrasound, spinal stability
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Employees working for office-cleaning companies are directly affected by the growing competition in this sector. They face a heavier workload and heightened psychological pressure. A majority of these workers are less qualified women working part-time, with flexible and inconvenient schedules. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to highlight the workers' strategies to deal with fast work, schedule requirements and the consequent difficulties to reconcile their professional and private…life commitments. METHODS: This study is based on in-depth interviews. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and twenty-five male and female workers responsible for cleaning offices. RESULTS: The themes generated from the results highlight a continued deterioration in working conditions in this sector. They also show that even approximate respect of the theoretical workload as calculated by the sub-contractor and the client company mainly depends on the workers' subjective strategies to accommodate increasingly fragmented work hours with their private lives. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, since these individual strategies are not enough to make up for the deterioration in work conditions, improving them requires sub-contractors and client companies to agree on organisational arrangements that take into account the reality of the employees' lives.
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Keywords: Sociology of work, work time, cleaning sector
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The prevalence of telework among people with disabilities is not as great as the general population, despite the accommodative benefits of telework. OBJECTIVE: This study of employment and accommodation use patterns of people with disabilities investigates relationships between functional abilities, work location and nature, and accommodation use. PARTICIPANTS: Currently employed subjects with disabilities were recruited from client lists of research, technical assistance, and service provision centers, as well as through over…100 social networking venues focused on individuals with disabilities. METHODS: A national, cross-sectional survey was administered electronically. Details of accommodation use for 373 individuals were compared using Chi-Square distribution analysis. RESULTS: Those in white-collar and knowledge-based jobs were twice as likely to telework as other worker types, and teleworkers were twice as likely to use flexible scheduling. Only 47% of teleworkers reported telework as a job accommodation. Of those, 57% were satisfied with telework and 76% reported it as important to job task completion. CONCLUSIONS: Increased use of flexible scheduling, particularly among those who view telework as an accommodation, suggests the primary accommodative benefit of telework is to reduce pain and fatigue-related barriers to traditional employment. Relatively low satisfaction with telework suggests that it presents other employment-related barriers.
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Keywords: Employment, workplace accommodations, remote work, work environment, assistive technology
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The aim of occupational health care management programs (OHMP) is to improve the health status of employees, increase work ability and reduce absence time. This includes better coping abilities, work-related self-efficacy and self- management which are important abilities that should be trained within OHMPs. OBJECTIVES: To study the effectiveness of an OHMP including special interventions to enhance self-efficacy and self- management. PARTICIPANTS: Employees from the German Federal Pension Agency. METHODS: Effects of an OHMP on sickness absence was studied by comparing an intervention group and two control groups. A core…feature of the OHMP were group sessions with all members of working teams, focussing on self-efficacy and self management of the individual participant as well as the team as a group (focus groups). Participants in the OHMP were asked for their subjective evaluation of the focus groups. Rates of sickness absence were taken from the routine data of the employer. RESULTS: Participants of the OHMP indicated that they had learned better ways of coping and communication and that they had generated intentions to make changes in their working situation. The rate of sickness absence in the intervention group decreased from 9.26% in the year before the OHMP to 7.93% in the year after the program, while there was in the same time an increase of 7.9% and 10.7% in the two control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that OHMP with focus on self-efficacy and self management of individuals and teams are helpful in reducing work absenteeism.
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Keywords: Focus group, team training, prevention, health status, sickness absence
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The German health care system has undergone radical changes in the last decades. These days health care professionals have to face economic demands, high performance pressure as well as high expectations from patients. To ensure high quality medicine and care, highly intrinsic motivated and work engaged health care professionals are strongly needed. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine relations between personal and organizational resources as essential predictors for work engagement of German health care professionals. METHODS: This investigation has a cross-sectional questionnaire study design. Participants were a sample…of hospital doctors. Personal strengths, working conditions and work engagement were measured by using the SWOPE-K9, COPE Brief Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Questionnaire, COPSOQ and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. RESULTS: Significant relations between physicians' personal strengths (e.g. resilience, optimism) and work engagement were evaluated. Work related factors showed to have a significant influence on work engagement. Differences in work engagement were also found with regard to socio-demographic variables. CONCLUSION: Results demonstrated important relationships between personal and organizational resources and work engagement. Health care management needs to use this information to maintain or develop work engaging job conditions in hospitals as one key factor to ensure quality health care service.
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Keywords: Health care, optimism, organizational resources, resilience, work engagement
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The link between work distress and negative mental health outcome is an emergent topic in the scientific literature. The studies that evaluated the risk of work-related psychopathologies in the different job sectors have obtained so far controversial and inconclusive results. The identification, by means of standardized evaluation tools, of the work activities at higher risk of poor mental health is a relevant target for the occupational psychiatry and medicine. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the…relationship between the psychosocial work conditions and work related psychiatric disturbances and to verify the relationship between the higher pathogenic effect of work and specific job activities. PARTICIPANTS: A six-month diagnostic trial was conducted on 234 patients (35.4% women and 64.6% men). METHODS: Psychiatric diagnoses were according to DSM-IV criteria; anxious and depressive dimensions were studied by means of Hamilton-Anxiety-Scale and Hamilton Scale for Depression; psychosocial work environments and bio-psycho-social features were measured by Naples-Questionnaire of Work Distress. Groups with higher and lower work-related pathogenesis were compared and their distribution among specific job activities was evaluated. RESULTS: Mood disorders were strongly linked to negative work environment. Patients with severe bullying obtained higher scores on Hamilton-Anxiety-Scale and Hamilton Scale for Depression than those with lower work-pathogenesis. The highest scores on Naples-Questionnaire of Work Distress were related to mood disorders, to poorer bio-psycho-social functioning and to higher work etiology. No significant relationship between work activities and work-related psychopathologies was found. CONCLUSION: Workplace bullying is predictive of work-related psychiatric disturbances with more severe clinical features and bio-psycho-social consequences. No significant differences were found about the relationship between work-related psychopathologies and work activities.
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Keywords: Bullying at work, job stress, work environment, psychiatric assessment, bio-psycho-social functioning
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Literature has shown that work maintenance is central in order to guarantee participation to persons with disability. Knowledge about potential sources of difficulties and obstacles is then crucial in order to prevent barriers and facilitate work maintenance and career development for persons with disabilities. OBJECTIVE: Studies analyzing on-the-job barriers among employed people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have found evidence for a role of clinical determinants. The aim of this study was…to describe in more detail the role of disability severity and of cognitive indices on work barriers. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two employed adults with a diagnosis of MS with mild to moderate disability severity were included in the study. They were involved in the descriptive study while attending their planned care in the MS unit. METHODS: Subjects completed neurocognitive tasks, a self-report measure of executive functioning and a face-to-face semi-structured interview exploring their perception of barriers at work. RESULTS: Regression analyses showed a specific role of disability severity on perception of barriers due to physical, cognitive and interpersonal relationships; cognitive indices, on the other hand, predicted barriers ascribed to company policy (cognitive score), to accessibility (planning score) or difficulties in cognitive and task related abilities (self-rated executive functioning). CONCLUSION: These findings underline the relevance of objective tasks and self-report questionnaire, direct and indirect multi-dimensional assessment of functioning for an early intervention planning. An ecological model of career development in adults with disabilities is also supported.
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Abstract: BACKGROUND: There is a need for more knowledge on how to manage companies towards healthier and more prosperous organizations with low levels of absenteeism. Relational Justice can be a useful concept when managing such organizations. OBJECTIVE: Organizational factors can help to explain why some companies have relatively low absenteeism rates, even though they are equal to other companies in many other aspects. Previous studies suggest that management may be one important factor. Efficient management…may depend on good relations between the leaders and the employees. The concept of Relational Justice is designed to capture these relations. Consequently, a Relational Justice framework may be used to understand why some companies have a low incidence of absenteeism. PARTICIPANTS: Managers from a representative body of Swedish companies. METHODS: Interviews were analyzed to explore whether the items representing the concept of Relational Justice can be used to further understand the strategies, procedures and structures that characterize organizations and management in companies with a low incidence of absenteeism. RESULTS: Strategies, procedures or principles related to Relational Justice were common and highlighted in companies with an incidence of absenteeism. The most frequently occurring factors were; to be treated with kindness and consideration, personal viewpoint considered and to be treated impartially. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that a Relational Justice framework could be used to increase understanding of the organizational and managerial factors typical for companies with a low incidence of absenteeism. A Relational Justice approach to organizational management may be used to successfully lower absenteeism, change organizations and promote healthy and prosperous companies.
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Keywords: Management, health, prevention, health promotion, organizational justice
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Robbery in workplaces represents a potentially traumatic experience for workers. OBJECTIVES: This article describes the set up and evaluation of a comprehensive psychological intervention designed to help to reduce the adverse consequences of bank robberies. PARTICIPANTS: The study population was selected among the employees of two Italian banks. METHODS: The psychological protocol was designed according to the results of a comprehensive non-systematic review of the scientific literature and it was evaluated at work site. RESULTS:…The protocol consists of a "pre-event" formative intervention and "post-event" psychological support. The qualitative data collected allowed us to understand that the reactions after a robbery can differ depending on the phase during which the workers were exposed to the robbery. We noted that the main consequences can be classified in emotional/sentimental reactions, behavioral reactions, physiological reactions and experiences during the event; emotions/feelings following the robbery and psycho/physical state and emotions/feelings in the following days. CONCLUSIONS: In a working environment, the chance to take advantage of a specific protocol for the traumatic event of a bank robbery offers both the company and the workers important tools for well-being, including post-robbery psychological support and classroom instructions.
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Abstract: BACKGROUND: The workplace is repeatedly being referred to as an appropriate arena for alcohol prevention and dissemination of information. Whether the pressure on employers to work with prevention is realistic or if these kinds of measures have any potential in real life is however rarely discussed. An alcohol education at a company in Sweden was to be evaluated in terms of effectiveness and this study reports the findings. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate…whether an alcohol education program provided to all employees at a company in Stockholm, Sweden had any effect on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related knowledge. The increasing pressure on employers to work with alcohol prevention and on the concurrent problems of implementing and evaluating these types of interventions in real life is reviewed. METHODS: Pre- and post-test questionnaires were employed in a quasi-experimental design using a sample of convenience from two companies: one intervention and one control. Data was analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA-tests focused on the participants' AUDIT-scores, frequency of binge drinking and alcohol-related knowledge. RESULTS: Significant improvement in the employees' alcohol-related knowledge was shown, but there were no significant effects on alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study confirms most previous findings, but also raises the importance of considering the value of educating all employees and the willingness of employers to initiate preventive measures. Evaluating interventions of this kind is complicated, and it is also difficult to find results showing behavioural change in populations whose alcohol consumption is moderate.
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Keywords: Working life, alcohol prevention, education program, risk knowledge, effectiveness
Abstract: BACKGROUND: As the field of rehabilitation shifts its focus towards improving functional capacity instead of managing disability, return to work (RTW) and return to the community emerge as key goals in a person's recovery from major disabling illness such as stroke.…OBJECTIVE: To compile important factors believed to influence RTW after a stroke. METHODS: Based on a comprehensive literature review, we clustered similar factors and organized these factors based on the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF) framework: body functions or structure, activity participation, environmental factors and personal and psychosocial factors. RESULTS: Overall, stroke severity, as assessed by the degree of residual disability such as weakness, neurological deficit or impairments (speech, cognition, apraxia, agnosia), has been shown to be the most consistent negative predictor of RTW. Many factors such as the number of working years remaining until retirement, depression, medical history, and occupation need to be taken into consideration for stroke survivors, as they can influence RTW decision making. Stroke survivors who are flexible and realistic in their vocational goal and emotionally accept their disability appear more likely to return to work. CONCLUSIONS: There are many barriers to employment for stroke survivors ranging from physical and cognitive impairments to psychosocial and environmental factors.
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Abstract: BACKGROUND: Morningness and eveningness preference (chronotype), an endogenous component of the circadian clock could play a key role in a worker's ability for adjusting to shift work. Morning types are those individuals who prefer going to bed and waking up early, whereas Evening types tend to sleep at later hours and find it difficult to get up in the morning. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to survey, the relationship between morningness-eveningness type, sleep quality and insomnia in…shift worker nurses. PARTICIPANTS: The participants comprised 160 nurses working in three different wards in two university hospitals in Iran. METHODS: Nurses completed the Horne and Ostberg [23] questionnaire to assess the distribution of morningness or eveningness preference, the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index [22] and Insomnia Severity Index questionnaire [21] to measure self reported sleep quality and insomnia. Demographic information was also collected in order to explore the relationship between circadian rhythms, sleep quality and prevalence of insomnia in shift workers. RESULTS: The results showed that the prevalence of poor sleep quality was high. More than half of the participants had poor sleep. Evening type nurses had worse sleep quality in our study (P < 0.05). There is not any significant association between the shift type and age of the nurses with their quality of sleep (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that nurses who had a morning sleep preference had better sleep quality. A survey of chronotype of nurses could be useful, so that individuals may be assigned to different shifts according to their sleep preference.
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