Work - Volume 61, issue 4

Authors: Arlati, Sara | Spoladore, Daniele | Mottura, Stefano | Zangiacomi, Andrea | Ferrigno, Giancarlo | Sacchetti, Rinaldo | Sacco, Marco

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Return to work represents an important milestone for workers who were injured during a workplace accident, especially if the injury results in needing a wheelchair for locomotion. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to design a framework for training novice wheelchair users in regaining autonomy in activities of daily living and in the workplace and for providing medical personnel with objective data on users’ health and work-related capabilities. METHODS: The framework design was accomplished following the “Usability Engineering Life Cycle” model. According to it, three subsequent steps defined as “Know your User”, “Competitive Analysis” …and “Participatory Design” have been carried out to devise the described framework. RESULTS: The needs of the end-users of the framework were identified during the first phase; the Competitive Analysis phase addressed standard care solutions, Virtual Reality-based wheelchair simulators, the current methodologies for the assessment of the health condition of people with disability and the use of semantic technologies in human resources. The Participatory Design phase led to the definition of an integrated user-centred framework supporting the return to work of wheelchair users. CONCLUSION: The results of this work consists in the design of an innovative training process based on virtual reality scenarios and supported by semantic web technologies. In the near future, the design process will proceed in collaboration with the Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL). The whole framework will be then implemented to support the current vocational rehabilitation process within INAIL premises. Show more

Keywords: Virtual reality, vocational rehabilitation, semantic web, work reintegration, ICF

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-182829

Citation: Work, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 603-625, 2018

Authors: Palm, Kristina | Eriksson, Andrea

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Recent research has highlighted the risks involved in work intensification; i.e. the risk of human resources being consumed, incurring higher risks of emotional ill health such as burnout among employees. At the same time, there are some indications that individual employees are being left to themselves to manage work tasks in intensive work environments. OBJECTIVE: This article explores how strongly engaged people master intensive work through coping and job crafting in a salutogenic way. METHODS: The article is based on 34 in depth interviews of persons in various professions within research and …development departments in three Swedish companies. RESULTS: The interviews indicated that employees generally experienced work as almost constantly intense. We identified two strategies for mastering intensive work; i.e. an active strategy and a cognitive strategy, involving elements of both coping and job crafting. The specific elements of these strategies determine whether salutogenic processes are present. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that it is the specific elements of the coping and job-crafting strategies that determine whether or not salutogenic processes occur, and that organisational support is an important supplement to the individual processes for mastering intensive work. Show more

Keywords: Coping, engagement, individual processes, intensive work, job crafting, support, strategy, sustainable work, qualitative

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-182830

Citation: Work, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 627-637, 2018

Authors: Pade, Margalit | Liberman, Lihi | Sopher, Ran S. | Ratzon, Navah Z.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Postures while sitting are believed to have an important influence on the process of writing and quality of handwriting, but data in this field are sparse. OBJECTIVES: The current study was undertaken to investigate correlations between ‘ordinary’ children’s handwriting skills and their posture and stability while sitting. METHODS: Twenty-nine children with typical development (age 9.2±0.8 years) underwent the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation, while the pressure distributions on their seats and backrests were recorded using a pressure mapping system. RESULTS: There was an increase in the odds of erasing and overwriting …letters in dictation tasks when body displacements of the buttocks increased [Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.01, 95% CI 1.000–1.02, p  = 0.050]. Children who did not lean on the backrest were more likely to have legible handwriting in copying tasks (OR = 0.136, 95% CI 0.026–0.723, p  = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: The awareness and involvement of health practitioners in sitting postures of children at school might promote activities such as writing. Further investigation of movement patterns while writing and of the correlations of these patterns with handwriting outcomes is recommended. More research regarding adjustments at the school environment for children with developmental disorders is also warranted. Show more

Keywords: Pressure mapping, sitting posture, writing

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-182831

Citation: Work, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 639-646, 2018

Authors: Lipovaya, Viktoriya | Duarte, Francisco | Béguin, Pascal

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Work activity integrates the tasks to be performed, the means of work available, the instructions, the rules to be observed, the particular factors related to the individuals (skills, inner state), and the effects both on the task and on the operator. By analyzing the activity, the different logics and conflicts in the design of production systems are revealed. OBJECTIVE: To show how the work activity can support the transformation of the working conditions, when revealed by an ergonomic intervention, by integrating the different design standpoints, which are always present in the project’s work situations. …METHODS: For this case study, the Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA) was used on the staff that serves meals at a new university restaurant in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) with a focus on the portioning of the transported ready-cooked meals and the variability related thereto. The results of observations, verbalizations, self-confrontations and strategy analysis, collected through field notes and audio and photographic records, became a final report submitted to the directors of the university restaurant. RESULTS: This research showed that the work activity of the serving maids helped to reveal the different logics of the heterogeneous actors in the design of the work situation under analysis. The work activity, when revealed by an ergonomic intervention, can be an interface during the design process to articulate these different logics and to support the dialog among different design standpoints. Thus, the concept of fixed portioning became a concept of flexible portioning, which provided the serving maids with an increased autonomy level at the counter, thus improving both the quality of services and the working conditions of those involved therewith. CONCLUSIONS: The activity-focused design can be understood as an ongoing, multiple logical process whereby workers bring the design into their workplaces, which reveals aspects of their own activity, thus helping to change the initial concepts. The ergonomic intervention, based on the revealed activity, helps to highlight the existence of different logics and also to support the actors in articulating their own logics during the design process. Show more

Keywords: Work activity, integration, interface, logics, design process

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-182832

Citation: Work, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 647-660, 2018