ABSTRACT
This An Ergonomic hazard often exists in any industry. However, majority of the employees are not aware of practicing good body posture until the MSDs symptoms become permanent and chronic. The main objective of this study is to determine the manual handling problems among workers at an electronic component manufacturing company. The scope of this study focused on the study entire body disorders among workers on electronic manufacturing company using the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). A cross sectional study involving observation of the workplace, the work task and the working environment, photographs and videos taken during the observation. Later, a survey questionnaire was given to the respondents to obtain their socio-demography information, work activity and health problems. Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) was conducted on all respondents to determined REBA scores in different work positions. The study was conducted at an electronic component manufacturing company located in Klang Valley, Selangor. A total of 124 workers were surveyed and REBA assessment was performed on 20 workers at Company X production area. It includes 5 categories of position at Company X, such as:loading steel bar into casing; pushing the steel bar, turning movement while adjusting the steel bar, adjusting steel bar into the loading area, unloading steel bar from casing into the machine. The study found that turning section has the highest MSDs problems regarding manual handling because majority of the respondents in the turning department felt the pain while performing their work. This is due to their job demand, which they need to handle with tools weighing from 200 to 400 kg. The REBA scores showed that17 out of 20 respondents performing turning operations, moving and pushing the steel bar recorded the highest score of 11 or more which are categorize in the very high risk group. The position of pushing and turning steel bar while moving the steel bar has higher risk that contributed to the ergonomics risk factor, which in-turn can contribute to Muscular Skeletal Disorders (MSDs). More detailed investigation and remedial measures should be taken immediately, especially for the workers performing the manual handlings activities.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Diabetes-related distress (DRD) refers to patient’s concerns about diabetes mellitus, its management, need of support, emotional burden and access to healthcare. The aim of this study was to translate and examine the psychometric properties of the Malay version of the 17-item Diabetes Distress Scale (MDDS-17) in adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Methods: A standard procedure was used to translate the English 17-items Diabetes Distress Scale into Malay language. We used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal axis factoring and promax rotation to investigate the factor structure. We explored reliability by internal consistency and 1-month test-retest reliability. Construct validity was examined using the World Health Organization quality of life-brief questionnaire, Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire and disease-related clinical variables. Results: A total of 262 patients were included in the analysis with a response rate of 96.7%. A total of 66 patients completed the test–retest after 1 month. EFA supported a three-factor model resulting from the combination of the regimen distress (RD) and interpersonal distress (IPD) subscales; and with a swapping of an item between emotional burden (EB; item 7) and RD (item 3) subscales. Cronbach’s α for MDDS-17 was 0.94, the combined RD and IPD subscale was 0.925, the EB subscale was 0.855 and the physician-related distress was 0.823. The test– retest reliability’s correlation coefficient was r = 0.29 (n = 66; p = 0.009). There was a significant association between the mean MDDS-17 item score categories (<3 vs ≥3) and HbA1c categories (<7.0% vs ≥7.0%), and medication adherence (medium and high vs ≥low). The instrument discriminated between those having diabetes-related complication, low quality of life, poor medication adherence and depression. Conclusion: The MDDS-17 has satisfactory psychometric properties. It can be used to map diabetes-related emotional distress for diagnostic or clinical use.