Effective interventions for cumulative trauma disorders of the upper extremity in computer users: practice models based on systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: A systematic review of over 4600 abstracts was performed to address the effectiveness of the current cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) interventions focused on the upper extremities of computer users. PARTICIPANTS: The researchers were the study participants. They included one Professor of Occupational Therapy and five Masters of Occupational Therapy Students from a Midwestern University. The Professor of Occupational Therapy has been practicing for 29 years. METHODS: The researchers employed stringent inclusion criteria for this review based on similar systematic review papers. Criteria for high quality qualitative research were incorporated to include studies other than randomized-controlled trials. This approach considered knowledge gained from specific interventions that were studied in greater detail with fewer clients. RESULTS: The results of this study identified 25 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Further review ranked the selected articles into high, medium, or low quality based on criteria adapted from other studies. The highest levels of evidence were found for education and training in ergonomics, forearm supports, ergonomic keyboards, ergonomic mice, and exercise/rest breaks. CONCLUSIONS: Two models of practice were created from this review to assist occupational therapists or other professionals with intervention strategies for computer users with CTDs.

The factor structure of The Fear Survey Schedule for Children--II in Trinidadian children and adolescents.

Part of understanding normal and abnormal fear in children and adolescents is having knowledge of how they acquire fears and of how fears change across development. One way to examine the relative contributions of heredity and environment to the experience of fear is to study fear across cultures. The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II (FSSC-II; Gullone, E., & King, N. J. (1992). Psychometric evaluation of a revised fear survey schedule for children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 987-998) is one measure that has some evidence for cross-cultural validity. The present analysis examined the factor structure of the FSSC-II scores of 884 Trinidadian children and adolescents. Factor consistency across age, sex, and nationality (Trinidadian and American) was examined by calculating the coefficients of congruence for each pair of conceptually similar factors. Results indicated a five-factor structure for the overall sample. Although the solution was conceptually similar to those reported in other studies that used versions of the FSSC, the obtained structure was not congruent across age, sex, or nationality.