Workstyle Measurement

Résumé du livre

Methods for identifying individuals at risk for the development of work-related upper extremity disorders (WRUEDs) are essential to initiate prevention and early intervention. The present study developed a self-report measure of workstyle, proposed as a potential risk factor for WRUEDs. Workstyle is the manner in which an individual performs work and has been proposed to describe how psychosocial job demands and ergonomic risks interact and influence the development, maintenance, and/or exacerbation of WRUEDs. Focus groups of office workers identified workplace stressors and individual behaviors that are hypothesized components of the workstyle construct. Responses were used to generate specific set of items that were assumed to reflect the multiple dimensions of workstyle, including patterns of thoughts and behaviors experienced while at work and behaviors, emotions and symptoms experienced during periods of high work demands. These items, along with self-report measures of job stress, ergonomic exposures, upper extremity functional outcomes, and general health, were administered on a web-based questionnaire. A sample of 282 office workers, mostly women (75%) between the ages of 22 to 65 who were employed an average of 42.3 hours per week, was studied. Factor analyses of the potential workstyle items yielded a set of six characteristic work behavior subscales and four high demand response subscales. The subscales demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha= 0.61 to 0.91) and test-retest reliability (r= 0.68 to 0.89) after three weeks. Workstyle scores were normally distributed and higher scores were significantly correlated with higher levels of pain, functional limitation, and adverse mental and physical health. Higher workstyle scores were also associated with the presence of work-related upper-extremity symptoms at 12 months (OR=2.51; 95% CI=1.18 5.