The Effect of Dispositional Optimism in HRQOL in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Conditions in Greece

The purpose of this investigation was to study the influence of optimism in the quality of life of patients with musculoskeletal problems that were referred to Amfilohia Rehabilitation Center, because of chronic pain and kinetic difficulties. The sample consisted of 96 patients. The questionnaires that were used are the short form health questionnaire (12 questions; SF12), the life orientation test-revised (LOT-R) and a VAS scale for pain measurement. According to the regression analysis performed, dispositional optimism is an independent factor affecting both the physical (β=.249, p<. 005) and mental composite score (β=.414, p<.0001) in patients with musculoskeletal problems, even after controlling for the effect of pain intensity. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V./The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS)

Expert System Assessment of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders for Video Display Terminal Users

Using computers for long durations and repetitively lead to costly health problems and reduced productivity among computer users. One of the best preventive actions is proved to be ergonomic interventions. However consulting ergonomics experts would be very expensive especially due to the fact that such interventions should be repeated periodically. Expert systems (ES) can be the solution for dealing with these problems. A rule-based expert system to analyze and evaluate the working conditions of computer users by ergonomics standards was designed. The knowledge base of this expert system was acquired from OSHA’s and Washington state ergonomic standards. Knowledge base is the source of information used to build an expert system. CLIPS was used to construct this ES. Risk factors which lead to formation of WRMSDs were identified; the computer user was aimed to be notified about the existence of WRMSDs hazards in the workplace, and was guided to avoid WRMSDs risk factors. After having this ES available to 100 computer users and analyzing the results, the effectiveness of the constructed ES was validated through comparing the ES outcome with OSHA standards. The significance of this study is to help the organizations to overcome costly health damages and productivity-reduction and making expert instructions available to everyone.</p