Exploring teachers' back pain concerning their habits, rules, leisure activities, and physical activity breaks at work

Galof, Katarina (author), Šuc, Lea (author)

The role of a teacher in the Faculty of Health Sciences involves teaching students, preparing lessons, and participating in other activities such as research projects and management processes. Professional participation is part of their involvement in daily occupations, which are taking place in teachers’ socio-cultural context and are necessary for their well-being. Teachers’ work performance can be enabled or constrained by their professional habits, including habits while using computers. We investigated awareness of and adherence to recommendations on ergonomics and preventive measures for back pain among the Faculty of Health Sciences employees. This study was aimed at investigating the relationship between the influence of their habits during computer use and back pain. An online questionnaire was sent to the teaching staff of the Faculty of Health Sciences (n = 115). 73% of the staff opened the online questionnaire, 43% fully completed the questionnaire. Data were processed using SPSS statistical program, version 20.0. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and factor analysis were calculated. Analysis of the results showed a significant statistical association between the professional habits and roles [daily computer use (r = .443, P < .01); position of different body parts during computer use [head (r = .669, P < .001), shoulder (r = .446, P < .01), legs and feet (r = .483, P < .01), screen inclination (r = .577, P < .01), adjusting chair settings (r = .608, P < .01), distance between eyes and screen (r = .766, P < .01)]; physical activities break at work [r = .758, P < .01], and back pain. Considering ergonomic principles when designing the work environment can have a major impact on employees’ health and quality of work. As experts in the field of health sciences, faculty members are not sufficiently aware of the impact of an improperly designed work environment on employee health, which affects work habits.

• Language: English
• Keywords: workplace design, ergonomics, academic staff, health, professional habits, professional rules
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 10 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 58
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-133716
• UDC: 331.101.1
• ISSN on article: 1945-7243
• DOI: 10.1177/00469580211060256
• COBISS.SI-ID: 88893955
• Publication date in RUL: 10.12.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Inquiry
• Publisher: SAGE
• ISSN: 1945-7243
• COBISS.SI-ID: 519309593

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: oblikovanje delovnega mesta, ergonomija, akademsko osebje, zdravje, poklicne navade