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© 1996 Oxford University Press
research-article |
An Interview Technique for Recording Work Postures in Epidemiological Studies
LJE STUDY GROUP
*Departments of Epidemiology/IMM S-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden.
**Occupational Health, Karolinska Hospital and Institute S-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden.
MUSIC - Norrtãlje Study Group: Departments of Epidemiology/IMM, Occupational Health, Orthopaedics, Rheumatology, Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Karolinska Hospital and Institute S-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden. Divisions of Applied Work Physiology, Occupational Medicine, Psychophysiology, Work and Environmental Physiology, National Institute of Occupational Health S-171 84 Solna, Sweden. National Institute of Psychosocial Factors and Health S-104 01 Stockholm, Sweden.
BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to present and evaluate a work-task-oriented interview technique focusing on the placement of the hands relative to the body and assessing per cent time spent in five standard work postures during a working day.
METHODS: The reproduclbillty of estimated time spent in each work posture was tested by the test-retest method In 32 subjects; 16 were interviewed by the same interviewer and 16 were interviewed by another one at the retest. The validity conceming estimated time spent in the five standard work postures was tested In relation to observations in 58 male blue-collar workers. The mean registration (assessment) time was 6 hours and 15 minutes.
RESULTS: No evident differences in the reproducibility depending on same or different Interviewers at test and retest could be observed. The linear relationship between times estimated by the interview and by observations was high for four of the work postures: ‘sitting’ (r = 0.86), ‘standing with hands above shoulder level’ (r = 0.87), ‘between shoulder and knuckle level’ (r = 0.75), and ‘below knuckle level’ (r = 0.93). When the work posture ‘standing with hands between shoulder and knuckle level’ was divided into ‘hands fixed’ (r = 0.62) and ‘hands not fixed’ (r = 0.50) the correlations were weak. Current musculoskeletal complaints did not influence the accuracy of the estimations.
CONCLUSION: The present task-oriented interview technique may be the best available method to estimate these work postures in a way that requires few resources compared to observations and technical measurements.
Keywords differential bias, ergonomics, perceived time, postural load, reliability, self-reports, validity
Revised 1 June 1995
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