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Work-related musculoskeletal disorders and ergonomic risk factors in special education teachers and teacher’s aides

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, February 2016
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (73rd percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (57th percentile)

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Citations

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38 Dimensions

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237 Mendeley
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Title
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders and ergonomic risk factors in special education teachers and teacher’s aides
Published in
BMC Public Health, February 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-2777-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Hsin-Yi Kathy Cheng, Man-Ting Wong, Yu-Chung Yu, Yan-Ying Ju

Abstract

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) have become increasingly common among health-related professionals. Special education personnel who serve students with disabilities often experience physical strains; however, WMSDs have been overlooked in this population. The objectives of this study were to investigate the work-related ergonomics-associated factors in this population and to evaluate their correlation with the WMSDs prevalence. A questionnaire with three domains, namely demographics, prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and ergonomic factors, designed by our research team was delivered to educators who work in special education schools. Approximately 86 % of the 388 special education school teachers and teacher's aides in this study experienced musculoskeletal disorders. The lower back, shoulder, and wrist were the three most affected regions. A logistic regression analysis revealed that the participants' background factors, namely >5.5 years of experience (odds ratio [OR] = 4.090, 95 % CI: 1.350-12.390), students with multiple disorders (OR = 2.412, 95 % CI: 1.100-5.287), and other work-related ergonomic factors (assistance in diaper changing and others duties), were strongly associated with the prevalence of WMSD. Nap habit (OR = 0.442, 95 % CI: 0.230-0.851) and having teaching partners in the same class (OR = 0.486, 95 % CI: 0.250-0.945) resulted in low possibility of acquiring WMSDs. The use of supportive devices was associated with a low WMSD prevalence. The present study revealed an association between WMSDs and specific job features among teachers and teacher's aides in special education schools. Future efforts should emphasize examining safe student-handling ergonomics, formulating policies regarding student-teacher ratio, incorporating mandatory break times at the workplaces, and promoting personal health for preventing work-related injuries.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 237 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Malaysia 1 <1%
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Unknown 235 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 33 14%
Student > Master 29 12%
Student > Ph. D. Student 17 7%
Researcher 15 6%
Student > Doctoral Student 11 5%
Other 38 16%
Unknown 94 40%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 40 17%
Engineering 21 9%
Medicine and Dentistry 20 8%
Social Sciences 12 5%
Psychology 9 4%
Other 31 13%
Unknown 104 44%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 November 2018.
All research outputs
#6,390,691
of 22,876,619 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#6,732
of 14,917 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#106,945
of 400,610 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#102
of 240 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,876,619 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 71st percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 14,917 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 54% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 400,610 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 240 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 57% of its contemporaries.