RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Problems related to physical disability may have an extremely negative impact in the work environment, reducing productivity and contributing to health problems and a worsening quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of an ergonomic intervention program on the quality of life and the work performance of people with physical disabilities working in a university environment. METHODS: A pilot clinical trial with three-month follow-up was conducted at the Physiotherapy Clinic of the Federal University of Paraíba (Brazil). Eight workers at the university took part in an ergonomic adjustment (using ErgoDis/IBV software) and physiotherapy program at their workplace for twelve weeks, in two 60-min sessions per week. The measuring instruments used were the WHOQoL-BREF questionnaire for quality of life and the Work Ability Index for work ability. A repeated-measures ANOVA analysis and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were also performed. RESULTS: Significant intra-group changes were observed in the QoL subscales for the physical dimension (Fâ¯=â¯5.487, pâ¯=â¯0.017) and the environment dimension (Fâ¯=â¯7.510, pâ¯=â¯0.006). The post-treatment analysis revealed significant changes for both the physical dimension (Zâ¯=â¯-2.552, pâ¯=â¯0.011) and the environment dimension (Zâ¯=â¯-2.201, pâ¯=â¯0.028). After the three-month follow-up period, only the environment dimension recorded a significant change (Zâ¯=â¯-1.965, pâ¯=â¯0.049). The effect sizes were large. Regarding work ability, the repeated-measures ANOVA analysis showed a significant time effect (Fâ¯=â¯5.067, pâ¯=â¯0.022), with large pre-post treatment improvement (Zâ¯=â¯-2.555, pâ¯=â¯0.011, dâ¯=â¯0.914). CONCLUSIONS: The program based on ergonomic and physiotherapy program greatly enhanced the subjects' quality of life and work ability.