Amin Jafari; Alireza Choobineh; Mehdi Jahangiri; Sareh Keshavarzi
Volume 5, Issue 2 , April 2017, , Pages 86-93
Abstract
Background: Most workers are exposed to a variety of hazards in their workplace. Devising a comprehensive checklist and developing an index for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) assessment could be useful. This study was conducted in a heavy automotive company with the aim of developing and validating ...
Read More
Background: Most workers are exposed to a variety of hazards in their workplace. Devising a comprehensive checklist and developing an index for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) assessment could be useful. This study was conducted in a heavy automotive company with the aim of developing and validating an OSH assessment index.Methods and Materials: We used the experiences and comments of OSH experts to devise a checklist for OSH assessment. Weighting various harmful factors was done using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was applied to measure the reliability of the checklist (SPSS version 20). In the studied industry, 150 workstations were assessed using the developed comprehensive checklist. In order to validate the total index, we assessed its correlation with 4 groups of occupational statistics (i.e. accident frequency, severity rates, lost working time rate, and occupational disease incidence rate). A p value of < 0.05 was considered significant.Results: Among 7 sub-indices, sub-indexes of occupational health and the workplace order (w=0.21) and housekeeping (w=0.04) had the highest and the lowest AHP weights, respectively. The mean of ICC was found to be 0.978. The total index (OSHITotal) and the Accident Severity Rate (ASR) had a strong inverse significant correlation (r = -0.774, P=0.002).Conclusion: The developed index covered important occupational hazards. The inter-evaluator reliability for this index was high.
Rezvan Zare; Alireza Choobineh; Sareh Keshavarzi
Volume 4, Issue 3 , July 2016, , Pages 115-120
Abstract
Background: Working conditions have considerably changed and exposure to psychosocial risk factors, particularly occupational stress, has recently had an increasing trend. Studies have shown that sickness absence was the worst outcome of occupational stress. The present study aimed to assess the relationship ...
Read More
Background: Working conditions have considerably changed and exposure to psychosocial risk factors, particularly occupational stress, has recently had an increasing trend. Studies have shown that sickness absence was the worst outcome of occupational stress. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between dimensions of occupational stress and sickness absence in a gas company in Boushehr, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 employees of a gas company, Boushehr, Iran who were selected through random sampling. Osipow occupational stress questionnaire was used to determine the participants’ stress levels. Then, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The participants’ mean of sickness absence was 2.164.57± days per year. Besides, 1.5%, 32.5%, 36.3%, and 29.8% of the participants had low, low to moderate, moderate to severe, and severe occupational stress, respectively. Additionally, the mean of total stress was moderate to severe among the study participants. This was also the case concerning the stress dimensions. The results revealed a significant relationship between the number of sickness absences and dimensions of occupational stress, including workload, role insufficiency, role conflict, responsibility, physical environment, and total stress (P=0.0001). Conclusion: The majority of the employees had high levels of occupational stress. Besides, a significant association was observed between the dimensions of occupational stress and sickness absence. Accordingly, to decrease the number of sickness absence, we should take measures to reduce occupational stress.
Naeimeh Asadi; Alireza Choobineh; Sareh Keshavarzi; Hadi Daneshmandi
Volume 3, Issue 1 , January 2015, , Pages 8-12
Abstract
Background: Manual load lifting is the most common and stressful activity that imposes high biomechanical pressures on the body, particularly on the back. Diverse studies have shown that load lifting can cause work-related musculoskeletal disorders among workers. This study was conducted to assess manual ...
Read More
Background: Manual load lifting is the most common and stressful activity that imposes high biomechanical pressures on the body, particularly on the back. Diverse studies have shown that load lifting can cause work-related musculoskeletal disorders among workers. This study was conducted to assess manual lifting activity using NIOSH equation and WISHA index and compare the results of the two methods in workers with manual lifting activities.Methods: This cross- sectional study was carried out among 120 workers with manual lifting activity in 7 industrial settings of Shiraz city. Nordic Musculoskeletal disorders Questionnaire (NMQ) and demographic questionnaire, as well as NIOSH lifting equation and WISHA index were used to gather the required data. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, 19.Results: The results showed that back problems were the most frequent musculoskeletal disorders among the workers studied (68.3%). The results of lifting evaluation indicated that 79.2% of the individuals in the NIOSH method and 39.2% in WISHA index were at risk of back injuries. The kappa value was equal to 0.29, indicating a fair agreement between the results of assessment by the two methods.Conclusion: The results of this study confirmed a fair correlation between these two assessment methods, so they might be used interchangeably.
Alireza jafari Baghkheirati; Leila Ghahremani; Mohammad Hossein Kaveh; Sareh keshavarzi
Volume 3, Issue 1 , January 2015, , Pages 27-35
Abstract
Background: When people maintain positive attitudes during life, their beliefs orientation will be highly beneficial to their health. In other words, those who have optimistic expectations report better physical health which is the result of their better psychological compatibility. The present study ...
Read More
Background: When people maintain positive attitudes during life, their beliefs orientation will be highly beneficial to their health. In other words, those who have optimistic expectations report better physical health which is the result of their better psychological compatibility. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of educational intervention based on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on Shirazi male high school students’ degree of optimism.Methods: This educational randomized controlled trial was conducted on 240 male high school students in Shiraz. The research sample was selected through multi-stage random sampling. In this study, a demographic information form was used to gather the students’ demographic characteristics. Besides, a positive thinking researcher-made questionnaire was designed based on TPB. Moreover, the life orientation test (optimism scale) developed by Scheier and Carver was used to evaluate the participants’ degree of optimism. After all, the data were analyzed in SPSS statistical software (v. 19) using descriptive and inferential methods. Significance level was set at 0.05 in all the tests.Results: Compared to the control group, all the constructs of TPB increased in the intervention group after the training (P<0.001). Moreover, Pearson correlation indicated a significant relationship between the constructs, and the highest correlation was among attitude, perceived behavioral control, and intention.Conclusion: According to the research findings, all the constructs of TPB played a key role in increasing the students’ positive think. Thus, educational intervention based on TPB has a positive effect on increasing the students’ positive think.
Afsane Ahmadi; maryam ranjbar zahedani; Mahsa Moazen; Mohammad Hassan Eftekhari; Sareh Keshavarzi
Volume 2, Issue 4 , October 2014, , Pages 145-150
Abstract
Background: Job satisfaction is an emotional and positive feeling which results from job assessment or experiences. It is always considered as a problem in some organizations. Despite the important role of nutrition therapy in patients care, dietitians’ job satisfaction is less taken into account. ...
Read More
Background: Job satisfaction is an emotional and positive feeling which results from job assessment or experiences. It is always considered as a problem in some organizations. Despite the important role of nutrition therapy in patients care, dietitians’ job satisfaction is less taken into account. The aim of the present study was to determine the amount of job satisfaction among dietitians in Fars province, Iran.Methods: In this study, job satisfaction of 95 dietitians was evaluated through demographic and job satisfaction questionnaires. They were sent by e-mail or face-to-face referral for participants. Job satisfaction level was classified into 6 different categories including very satisfied, fairly satisfied, slightly satisfied, slightly dissatisfied, fairly dissatisfied and very dissatisfied. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using independent sample t-test, oneway ANOVA and Pearson correlation test. Statistical differences were considered significant at P<0.05.Results: The results showed that 72.6% of the participants were satisfied with their job condition but 27.4% were dissatisfied. The mean score of job satisfaction of dietitians was 57%±10.54 (from the maximum score of 100), indicating the participants ’slight satisfaction. Moreover, the highest and lowest scores were related to the nature of work and salary, respectively.Conclusion: Since the level of job satisfaction affects other institutional variables such as efficiency, motivation, performance, absenteeism or burning out, it is suggested that authorities of Health Ministry provide a condition in which job satisfaction is increased by applying appropriate techniques.
Mahin Nazari; mostafa taheri; Sareh Keshavarzi; Ali Javadpour
Volume 2, Issue 2 , April 2014, , Pages 72-77
Abstract
Background: Although sleeping problems are common among all age groups, the elderly suffer a higher prevalence of sleep disorders. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep quality, self-efficacy, and stages of change among the elderly. Methods: This descriptive-analytical ...
Read More
Background: Although sleeping problems are common among all age groups, the elderly suffer a higher prevalence of sleep disorders. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep quality, self-efficacy, and stages of change among the elderly. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 36 individuals aged 60-75 years selected through simple random sampling in 2013. The data were collected using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and self-made structured questionnaires, including sleep self efficacy scale and stages of sleep behavior change scale. SPSS statistical software, version 19 was used to analyze the data and descriptive and inferential statistics such as independent samples t-test were used. Results: The results of the present study revealed that the mean of sleep quality was 7.91 (SD=4.99). In addition, most of the subjects (69%) had poor sleep quality. Considering the stages of change, the participants were in different stages of sleep behavior change. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between self-efficacy and PSQI total score (P<0.001). Also, significant relationships were observed between self-efficacy and the variables of stages of change (P<0.05), except for the average night sleep. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that most of the elderly had poor sleep quality. Besides, they were in different stages of change in sleep problems. The results also indicated that self-efficacy affected the sleep quality in the elderly. Therefore, measures should be taken based on stages of change and increased self-efficacy to improve sleep quality among the elderly.