Study of musculoskeletal problems among long-term computer users in Ahmedabad City

Background: COVID-19 made many changes in life of persons and even after post COVID era these changes are integral to our life. Some of the changes were online classes, work from home, and online gaming. Computer work leads to static position of neck, shoulders, and upper limbs for extended hours. This leads to higher risk of developing visual, musculoskeletal and psychological problems. Aims and Objectives: The present study was carried out to determine prevalence of musculoskeletal health disorders, assess work distribution, and their probable interaction with musculoskeletal health problems in computer users of Ahmedabad city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out over a period of 1-year time among 800 participants to study the musculoskeletal problems among computer users. Results: Out of 800 participants, 76.75% of participants had any computer related musculoskeletal problem. If participants work more than 4 h in a single spell prevalence of musculoskeletal problems was 82.95%. Regular exercise has significant role in preventing computer-related musculoskeletal problems. Conclusion: Computer-related musculoskeletal problems have relation with number of hours spent in single spell, total daily working hours, and years of computer-related work.

Computer use at work is associated with self-reported depressive and anxiety disorder

BACKGROUND: With the development of technology, extensive use of computers in the workplace is prevalent and increases efficiency. However, computer users are facing new harmful working conditions with high workloads and longer hours. This study aimed to investigate the association between computer use at work and self-reported depressive and anxiety disorder (DAD) in a nationally representative sample of South Korean workers. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was based on the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (2011), and 48,850 workers were analyzed. Information about computer use and DAD was obtained from a self-administered questionnaire. We investigated the relation between computer use at work and DAD using logistic regression. RESULTS: The 12-month prevalence of DAD in computer-using workers was 1.46 %. After adjustment for socio-demographic factors, the odds ratio for DAD was higher in workers using computers more than 75 % of their workday (OR 1.69, 95 % CI 1.30−2.20) than in workers using computers less than 50 % of their shift. After stratifying by working hours, computer use for over 75 % of the work time was significantly associated with increased odds of DAD in 20–39, 41–50, 51–60, and over 60 working hours per week. After stratifying by occupation, education, and job status, computer use for more than 75 % of the work time was related with higher odds of DAD in sales and service workers, those with high school and college education, and those who were self-employed and employers. CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of computer use at work may be associated with depressive and anxiety disorder. This finding suggests the necessity of a work guideline to help the workers suffering from high computer use at work. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40557-016-0146-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Repetitive strain injury (rsi) among computer users: a case study in telecommunication company

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is the most common occupational injury faced by computer users. Computer users faced higher possibility of getting RSI due to their prolonged working time and static posture. The three main objectives of this study are, first: to identify the prevalence of RSI among computer users; second, to investigate and determine the RSI risk factors; and third to analyze the association between RSI risk factors and the prevalence of RSI among computer users at a Telecommunication Company X. A total of 100 respondents were selected based on their daily exposure to computer usage of more than 4 hours. Nordic modified questionnaire was used to gather respondents’ sociodemographic data, job’s information, physical risk exposure, physical symptoms and their awareness level towards RSI. Body Parts Symptoms Survey (BPSS) form were also used to identify the body parts exposed to the RSI risk among computer users. The data was analysed using Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22. Study results showed that the 41% of computer users in Telecommunication Company X felt tired at the upper-back near the neck and 38% at the shoulder region. In conclusion, the prevalence of RSI among computer users is high at upper back near the neck and at the shoulder region. There is a significant association between risk factors of RSI and the prevalence of RSI among the computer users at Telecommunication Company X.

Creencias docentes y uso de Nuevas Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación en profesores de cinco establecimientos chilenos de educación básica y media / Teacher beliefs and use of New Technologies of Information and Communication in professors from five elementary and secondary Chilean schools

Mediante una encuesta se estudió la relación entre cinco tipos de creencias docentes -constructivismo, creencias en la efectividad de la tecnologías en educación, autoeficacia docente, autoeficacia computacional y autoeficacia de enseñanza con computadores- y la frecuencia y tipos de uso de computadores de 112 profesores de cinco establecimientos chilenos que brindan educación básica y media. Usando análisis de correlación, se obtuvo que la autoeficacia computacional, la autoeficacia de enseñanza con computadores y las creencias en la efectividad de la tecnología, presentan mayor efecto en el uso de computadores que la autoeficacia docente y el constructivismo.

This study explore the relation between five types of teacher's beliefs -constructivism, teacher self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, self-efficacy for teaching with computers and beliefs about technology's effectiveness on education - and the frequency and variety of use for computer's instructional purposes. A questionnaire was completed by 112 teachers from five Chilean schools. Using correlation analysis, it was found that computer self-efficacy, self-efficacy for teaching with computers and beliefs about technology's effectiveness on education show greater effects on frequency and variety of use of technologies for instructional purposes over teacher self-efficacy, and constructivism.

Influence of Computer Use Hours on Physical Development, Dietary Patterns, and Nutritional Status of Higher Grade Elementary School Children

This study was intended to investigate whether the computer use hours affect physical development, dietary habits, and nutritional status or not. One hundred and ninety elementary school students from Gyeonggi province and Seoul were selected and surveyed during December, 2006. Participants were divided into 2 groups: long-time computer user (> or = 2 hrs./day) and short-time computer user (< 2hrs./day). The survey included the questionnaires and anthropometric measurement. A dietary survey was conducted by using 24-hour recall method. The most of long-time computer user accessed computer more often than those of short-time computer user weekly bases. The purpose of the computer use was for the computer game (p < 0.05). Most participants accessed computer after the school at night and at their home. The longer the computer use, the more the body weight and %RBW (p < 0.05). Dietary habits score of long-time computer user (34.5 points) was lower than that of short-time computer user (38.0 points) (p < 0.001). The long-time computer user consumed more fatty foods, instant foods, and sugary foods. In case of dietary habit changes incurred by computer use, the long-time computer user had inferior dietary habits: skipping meals, meal size, appetite, eating speed, weight, exercise, and sleeping trouble (p < 0.05). The long-time computer user consumed less calories than the short-time computer user (p < 0.05). Also, the long-time computer user tended to have lower intakes of vitamin C, Ca, and dietary fiber without significance. From the findings, the longer use of computer by the elementary school children negatively affects their physical development, dietary habits and nutritional status.

Beverage Consumption and Related Factors among Adolescents in the Chungnam Urban Area / 대한지역사회영양학회지

In order to investigate the adolescent's beverage drinking pattern and its related ecological factors, a questionnaire survey was conducted with the subjects of 920 middle and high-school students, 450 boys and 470 girls, residing in 4 cities of the Chungnam area. Of the subjects 65% liked, or liked very much, beverages and only 3.7% did not like beverages. They drank beverages 4.3 +/- 4.0 times a week on average, but 10.4% of them drank beverages more than twice a day. Male students drank more frequently than the females. The intake frequency of carbonated drinks was 1.7 +/- 2.3 a week, which was about 40% of the total beverages. However, more students drank mainly ion beverages (33.6%) than carbonated drinks (28.7%). As the students took more balanced food and ate more regularly, their beverage drinking frequency decreased and those taking carbonated drinks also tended to decrease. The more frequent the students took fast food, the more frequent they drank carbonated beverages. The drinking frequencies for beverages or carbonated beverages were also less in students eating cooked rice with sidedishes as breakfast than in students eating others. The drinking frequency for carbonated drinks showed significant correlations with the students' activities such as the time spent using computers and watching TV got longer, the drinking frequency for soft drinks was also higher. When nutritional knowledge was higher, drinking frequency for carbonated drinks got lower. In conclusion, to make the adolescents improve their attitudes toward drinking beverages and to prevent excessive drinking of carbonated drinks, they should be educated not only on the nutritional knowledge and the proper intake of beverages, but also on good dietary habits including balance, regularity, and types of meals. Proper snacking and fast food consumption also should be taught. Since ion beverages were taken more frequently than carbonated drinks among adolescents, further study is recommended on the impact of excessive intake of ion beverages.