Iranian Journal of Ergonomics
Year:2016 | Volume:3 | Issue:4|Papers Count:9

Introduction: Faculty and staff are the pillars of any university. Any impairment in the function of these elements would undoubtedly decrease the quality of education and training services provided. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between subjective workload and job satisfaction in faculty and staff members of universities of medical sciences and universities affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology.Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study recruited 164 faculty and staff members. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, NASA Task Load Index (NASA TLX), and the Job Description Index (JDI). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to analyze the data.Findings: The participants’ workload had no significant effects on their job satisfaction. Faculty members generally had a heavier workload and lower level of job satisfaction compared to staff members. Moreover, faculty of universities of medical sciences had higher workload and lower levels of job satisfaction (14.5% vs.30.76%) in comparison to faculty of universities affiliated to the Ministry ofScience, Research, and Technology.Moreover, 14.5% of the medical faculty members and 30.76% of science faculty members were satisfied with their jobs. Overall, job satisfaction and workload were not significantly related with demographic characteristics and job features of the participants.Conclusion: Among the various subscales of workload, faculty members reported high levels of subjective pressure, time pressure, and effort. Therefore, further studies are required to identify the causes of such pressures and introduce measures for their reduction or elimination.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the effects of cooling vests on heat strain and reaction time while wearing protective clothing against chemical, biological, and radioactive contamination.Materials and Methods: Twelve male students with the mean age of 25 ± 2 years and mean body mass index (BMI) of 23.0 ± 1.5 kg/m2 were recruited in this experiment. Each student was asked to run on a treadmill at a speed of 2.4 km/h for 20 minutes. The experiments were performed at 35 °C and 30% relative humidity. Physiological strain index score, oral temperature, heart rate, reaction time, and number of errors were measured at the end of the two phases. The findings were analyzed by SPSS.Results: According to Wilcoxon test, exercising with and without the cooling vest resulted in significantly different physiological strain index scores (P=0.02), oral temperature (P=0.02), reaction time (P=0.02), heart rate (P=0.02), and errors (P=0.03). The mean physiological strain index score was 4.038 ± 0.882 without the cooling vest and 1.42 ± 0.435 with the cooling vest. The mean reaction times with and without the cooling vest were 0.539 ± 0.977 and 0.769 ± 0.0972, respectively.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that using a cooling vest reduced the physiological strain, reaction time, and error rates in workers.

Introduction: Understanding the physical capacity of people in different weather conditions can facilitate the assignment of right jobs to right individuals. People’s physical work capacity can change in response to weather conditions. Since military forces are usually obliged to work under different weather conditions, this study aimed to assess these individuals’ physical work capacity in desired, warm-humid, and very warm humid weather conditions.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 36 military men (age: 20-29 years). Astrand treadmill tests were used to measure the participants’ physical work capacity, maximum aerobic capacity, and maximum oxygen uptake were measured under three weather conditions (desired, warm-humid, and very warm-humid).Results: The mean physical work capacity of the participants in desired, warm-humid, and very warm-humid weather conditions was 3.69 ± 0.52, 3.69 ± 0.55, and 3.41 ± 0.50 Kcal/min, respectively. The participants’maximum physical capacity under the mentioned conditions was 10.87 ± 1.54, 10.84 ± 1.63, and 10.02 ± 10.48 Kcal/min, respectively. Maximum aerobic capacity of the subjects was 29.52 ± 2.52, 29.76 ± 2.65, and 28.14 ± 2.76 ml/kg/min, respectively.Conclusion: According to our findings, people have similar physical work capacity under desired and warm humid weather conditions. However, physical work capacity reduced in very warm-humid weather.Moreover, the participants were allowed to perform light-moderate work during a work shift.

Introduction: Improving the quality of work life requires a certain organizational culture that supports creativity, autonomy, accountability, and employee participation. The present study investigated the relationship between organizational cultureand employees’ quality of work life.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted in 2015. A total of 145 staff members of all deputies of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences were selected. Organizational cultureand quality of work life were measured using previously designed self-administered questionnaires. Items of the questionnaires were scared on a Likert scale. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to analyze the data. All analyses were performed by SPSS.Results: A moderate level of organizational culture was detected in this study (mean score=3.04).Organizational culture and its components had significant positive correlations with quality of work life (r= 0.64; P=0.001). Linear regression analysis confirmed the significant positive effects of organizational culture on quality of work life.Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, modification of organizational culture and its components is necessary for improving personnel’s quality of work life, job satisfaction, and participation. Development of appropriate organizational culture can ensure higher quality of work life among university staff and enhance the quality and productivity of academic services.

Introduction: Job burnout can have negative effects on organizations and their employees. This study tried to investigate the relationships between job burnout and occupational stress, the four dimensions of organizational justice, personality characteristics, role clarity, and role overload.Material and Methods: All full-time employees of the Regional Electric Company of Kerman (n=200) were selected as the study sample. Finally, 138 usable questionnaires were collected. Previously designed questionnaires were used to measure work overload, occupational stress, role calrity, and organizational justice and respect. Maslach Burnout Inventory and NEO were also administered. Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analyses were applied to analyze the data. All analyses were performed using SPSS 16.0.Results: Job burnout was significantly related with occupational stress, distributive justice, extraversion, role clarity, role overload, organizational respect. Multiple regression analysis suggested distributive justice, overload, procedural justice, and occupational stress as the best predictors of job burnout. These factors explained 48% of the variance in burnout.Conclusion: According to the results of this study, policymakers and planners of the organization are recommended to pay more attention to parameters contributing to job burnout. This will prevent job burnout among the personnel and promote organizational efficiency.

Introduction: Physical activity has been identified as a potential intervention to improve body composition in women with breast cancer. This research sought to investigate the effects of an eight-week aerobic training program on some anthropometric indices and cardiorespiratory fitness of middle-aged women with breast cancer.Material and Methods: A total of 15 women with breast cancer (age: 40-60 years) were selected through convenience sampling. They attended an eight-week aerobic exercise program consisting of three 40-60-minute sessions per week. Exercise intensity was maintained at 30%-60% the subjects’ heart rate reserve (HRR). The participants’ weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist to hip ratio, waist to height ratio (WHR), body fat percentage (BFP), and maximum oxygen consumption were measured at baseline and after eight weeks of exercise. Data were analyzed by paired samples t-tests at a significance level of 0.05.Results: Significant reductions in the patients’ weight (P=0.001), BMI (P=0.001), WC (P=0.006), HC (P =0.001), WHR (P=0.006), and PBF (P=0.001) were observed after eight weeks of aerobic training. Moreover, exercise significantly increased the subjects’ maximum oxygen consumption (P=0.008). However, changes in the participants’ waist to hip ratio were not significant (P=0.235).Conclusion: According to the obtained results, an eight-week aerobic training program could significantly improve some anthropometric indices and cardiorespiratory fitness in women with breast cancer.

Introduction: Listening to music during physical activity reduces the perceived stress on body. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of music genre and sound pressure level on calorie consumption and physical performance of students during treadmill tests.Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 27 students were randomly selected. A demographic questionnaire, Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale (RPE 6-20), and the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) were used for data collection. During flat and sloped treadmill running (five minutes at 6 km/hour), two pieces of music with fast and slow tempo (200 and 70 beat per minute) were also played at two sound pressure levels (60 and 80 dB). During the exercise, the students’ heart rate and calorie consumption were measured by a calorimeter (Beurer PM100). At each stage, the physical performance of the participants was estimated using the relevant equation.Results: The students had the lowest physical performance (61.48) when no music was played and the highest physical performance (92.48) with slow, loud music. The mean heart rate, calorie consumption, and perceived exertion were maximized without music and minimized when slow, loud music was played.Conclusion: Playing soft music at high sound pressure levels can promote physical performance during exercise by decreasing heart rate, calorie consumption, and perceived exertion.

Introduction: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are among the major causes of workrelated disability in healthcare workers (HCW). One of the main causes of WDSDs is patient handling. This study aimed to identify hazardous conditions related to patient handling in hospital environments.Material and Methods: Patient handling activities were evaluated in 23 wards of three hospitals in Shiraz, Iran. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the required data through interviews with at least 23 HCW. Number of patient transfers per shift, patients’ ability to move to/from bed/stretcher, type and rate of personnel injuries, and necessity of transfer assist devices were surveyed.Results: Over five manual patient transfers per shift were performed in 70% of the wards. More than 70% of the patients were completely or relatively unable to cooperate in their own transfer. In more than 80% of the wards, the staff involved in patient handling activities suffered from various WMSDs, mainly low back pain (48.78%). Almost all (95%) participants believed that transfer assist devices were necessary and helpful and could be beneficial to not only the patients, but also the HCW and the hospital.Conclusion: Patients in most hospital wards need help when moving to/from bed/stretcher. Patient handling is generally performed manually by HCW. The high prevalence rate of WMSDs in the participating HCW highlighted the necessity of an ergonomic intervention, e.g. the use of transfer assist devices, for patient handling.