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Objective: This review aimed to evaluate all studies that have evaluated the biomechanical effects when using assistive devices. Introduction: The physical demands of patient handling activities are well known. One safety strategy for the reduction of the physical risks is use of assistive devices. Method: The search process identified articles published in English-speaking journals through Google Scholar, Medline, and ISI Web of Science. The included 56 studies contained a biomechanical assessment of a patient handling activity with assistive devices. Results: The biomechanical effects included four groups: changes in body posture (spinal, other joints), subjective assessment (force, effort, discomfort), measured force (hand force, ground reaction force, spine force, joint torque), and physiological measures. The evidence showed caregivers benefited from using lift hoists, air-assisted devices, and to a lesser extent friction reducing devices for lateral transfers and repositioning, while floor and ceiling lifts were most effective for patient transfers. Some gaps were noted in the evidence and other handling tasks such as sit-to-stand, turning patient in bed, limb lifting, and repositioning and some more high hazard activities like supporting people with limited balance and those that fall need to be investigated with respect to biomechanical outcomes. Conclusion: There is a growing level of biomechanical evidence to support the use of assistive devices for many patient-handling tasks, but the benefits of equipment use in some transfers remain uninvestigated. Practical Application: Evidence indicates the best way to lift patients safely is with floor or ceiling lifts, and air-assisted devices for lateral and repositioning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate neck muscle coactivation across different levels of mental workload during simulated flight tasks. Background: Neck pain (NP) is highly prevalent among military aviators. Given the complex nature within the flight environment, mental workload may be a risk factor for NP. This may induce higher levels of neck muscle coactivity, which over time may accelerate fatigue, increase neck discomfort, and affect flight task performance. Method: Three counterbalanced mental workload conditions represented by simulated flight tasks modulated by interstimulus frequency and complexity were investigated using the Modifiable Multitasking Environment (ModME). The primary measure was a neck coactivation index to describe the neuromuscular effort of the neck muscles as a system. Additional measures included perceived workload (NASA TLX), subjective discomfort, and task performance. Participants (n = 60; 30M, 30F) performed three test conditions over 1 hr each while seated in a simulated seating environment. Results: Neck coactivation indices (CoA) and subjective neck discomfort corresponded with increasing level of mental workload. Average CoAs for low, medium, and high workloads were:.0278(SD =.0232),.0286(SD =.0231), and.0295(SD =.0228), respectively. NASA TLX mental, temporal, effort, and overall scores also increased with the level of mental workload assigned. For ModME task performance, the overall performance score, monitoring accuracy, and resource management accuracy decreased while reaction times increased with the increasing level of mental workload. Communication accuracy was lowest with the low mental workload but had higher reaction times relative to increasing workload. Conclusion: Mental workload affects neck muscle coactivation during combinations of simulated flight tasks within a simulated helicopter seating environment. Application: The results of this study provide insights into the physical response to mental workload. With increasing multisensory modalities within the work environment, these insights may assist the consideration of physical effects from cognitive factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the health and well-being of U.S. correctional nurses. To protect correctional nurses, a better understanding of organizational characteristics, job stress, and well-being must be undertaken. Method: A cross-sectional design was used in the form of an online survey. Correctional nurses were conveniently recruited using national listservs and snowball sampling. Variables were measured with the Health & Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool, Nurse Wellbeing Index, and the Perceived Stress Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analyses of variance. Findings: Two hundred seventy participants (142 registered nurses, 83 licensed practical nurses/licensed vocational nurses, and 42 advanced practice nurses) completed the survey. Job stress scored moderate (M = 16.26, SD = 7.14), and well-being levels were just below the risk for adverse events (M = 1.8, SD = 3.06). Lower scores were noted for managerial support (M = 3.13, SD = 0.35) and job demands (M = 3.56, SD = 0.92), but slightly better for job control (M = 3.57, SD = 0.77), peer support (M = 3.85, SD = 0.64), and workplace relationships (M = 3.73, SD = 0.95). Conclusions: Significant differences between organizational characteristics, job stress, and well-being were found across nursing licensure, workplace environments, biological sex, and employment through state or private agencies. Registered nurses working in U.S. prisons experienced the highest job stress and worse well-being. Application to Practice: This work is an essential next step in promoting healthy workspaces, urging the need for further research establishing the impact of organizational characteristics and job stress on nurse well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace violence (WV) is a significant occupational hazard for home health care workers (HHCWs). HHCWs are frequently exposed to Type II (customer/client) WV incidents but minimal evidence exists about exposure to Type III (coworker) WV and exposure to Type IV (personal relationship) WV is unknown. Furthermore, exposure to WV incidents is often underreported by HHCWs. The Haddon Matrix guided this research study. A cross- sectional research design was used with HHCWs (n = 50) working in Southwest Ohio in April 2020. HHCWs completed the Workplace Violence Reporting Survey, a 76-item tool used to estimate the frequency and reporting of WV incidents. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. HHCWs were 86% female (n = 43). Patients (28.3%) followed by their families (17.4%) and intimate partners (10.9%) are the primary aggressors of verbal abuse. The incident was too minor (6.5%), no action would be taken (6.5%), and it's part of the job (4.3%) are major reasons HHCWs underreported WV. Type II WV is most pervasive when the aggressor is the patient. HHCWs experience physical assault and sexual abuse in their work environment. HHCWs underreported verbal abuse and physical assault when the aggressor was an intimate partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Nearly all workers and industry sectors have been affected by the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in some form since March 2020. However, the pandemic-related stressors experienced in the workplace may vary from industry to industry and may have disproportionally affected some workers. This study investigates increased stress levels, stressor events, and other perceptions of stress from at-risk workers during COVID-19. Methods An in-depth work-related stress survey that incorporated many aspects of work, life, work-life balance, and the health of employer-employee relationships was developed with a focus on COVID-19-related stressors. The cross-sectional survey was distributed online through professional networks from October to November 2021. The survey results were statically analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) after grouping the industry sectors into the four groups to determine trends within these groupings. Results The survey was completed by 670 workers in sectors such as manual labor, business/office service, healthcare, and education. A variety of trends were determined between the occurrence of COVID-19 and work stress which had, in some cases, affected some industry sectors to a larger degree than others. More than 50% of the participants reported experiencing an increased workload since the onset of the pandemic with some sectors, like healthcare, reporting an increased workload more frequently at 80%. Around 55% of respondents believed they could be exposed to COVID-19 in their workplace, ranging from 52% of business/office service workers to 77% of healthcare workers. Conclusions As workplaces navigate past the pandemic, occupational stress should be addressed head-on through workplaces providing expanded resources so as to assure work stress associated with future pandemics are mitigated appropriately. Whether the stressor is associated with irregular shift work or psychosocial aspects (i.e. relying on coworkers), many of these stressors have the possibility to become exacerbated by external factors such as pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of the dynamic spinal forces from kinematics data is very complicated because it involves the handling of the relationship between kinematic variables and electromyography (EMG) signals, as well as the relationship between EMG signals and the forces. A recurrent fuzzy neural network (RFNN) model is proposed to establish the kinematics-EMG-force relationship and model the dynamics of muscular activities. The EMG signals are used as an intermediate output and are fed back to the input layer. Since EMG is a direct reflection of muscular activities, the feedback of this model has a physical meaning. It expresses the dynamics of muscular activities in a straightforward way and takes advantage from the recurrent property. The trained model can then have the forces predicted directly from kinematic variables while bypassing the costly procedure of measuring EMG signals and avoiding the use of a biomechanics model. A learning algorithm is derived for the RFNN model. Index Terms--Fuzzy neural networks, spinal force.

A study was conducted to quantify the impact of non-lower back injuries on the trunk motions adopted by the individual during typical lifting tasks. Result states that injuries to the upper and lower extremities could predispose a worker to increased lower back disorder (LBD) risk through altered spinal kinematics that result from compensatory responses.