<p>The introduction of computers in working life has changed the very nature of many jobs and the entire work situation for a great number of people. How has this affected the individual´s health and well being? With the large increase in the use of computers we have witnessed an increase in reports on negative effects on users´health. The puropose of this thesis is to describe a number of studies on health effects of office computerisation conducted over a period of 20 years. The emphasis of the early studies was on psychosocial factors and stress effects while the focus in the more recent studies was to take into account occupational health in software development. The following conclusions have been drawn: We still face severe problems concerning the computer users´health and work environment. Much of the negative health effects are associated with stress. The introduction of new computer systems can result in an increase in various work-related health risks. These risks are related to several interacting factors, with two of the more important factors being work organisation and contents and design ot the computer system. Current methods, models and tools for system development are insufficient to prevent work environment and health problems encountered in administrative case handling work. To counteract these problems more attention needs to be given to social and organisational factors during system development. </p>

Muskuloskeletala besvär (MSD) utgör ett stort hälsoproblem. Besvären består av smärta i muskler, leder, ligament och omgivande vävnad. Två orsaker till MSD på arbetsplatsen är stress och stillasittande. Syftet med studien var att testa hypoteserna att stress och stillasittande associerar var för sig till MSD och associerar mer till MSD tillsammans än separat. Deltagarantalet var 100 kontorsarbetare, 48 kvinnor och 52 män, med höj- och sänkbara bord. Medelåldern på samtliga deltagare var 42 år. De besvarade en webbenkät för att mäta variablerna stress och stillasittande i förhållande till MSD. Standardiserade instrumenten PSS-10 (Perceived Stress Scale - 10) och NMQ (Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire) användes bland annat i enkäten. Data analyserades med multipel linjär regression, två separata enkla linjära regressioner och stegvis regression. Resultaten visade statistisk signifikans för modellen med stress och stillasittande tillsammans där endast stress associerade med MSD (p=0.011). Resultatet för de två enkla linjära regressionerna gav att stress associerade till MSD (p=0.008) medan stillasittande inte gjorde det (p=0.280). Nollhypoteserna kunde inte förkastas eftersom stillasittande inte associerade till MSD och en jämförelse mellan justerad R2 gav stress för sig (justerat R2=0.061) en bättre modell än stress och stillasittande tillsammans (justerat R2=0.056). / Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) constitute a major health problem. The symptoms consist of pain in muscles, joints, ligaments and surrounding tissues. Two causes of MSD in office work are stress and sedentary behaviour. The purpose of this study was to test the hypotheses that stress and sedentary behaviour are associated individually with MSD and associates more with MSD together than separately. The number of participants was 100 office workers, 48 women and 52 men, with sit and stand tables. The average age of all participants was 42 years. They responded to a five-piece web questionnaire to measure the variables stress and sedentary behaviour in relation to MSD. The standardized instruments PSS-10 (Perceived Stress Scale - 10) and NMQ (Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire) were used, among other things, in the survey. Data was analyzed with multiple linear regression, two separate simple linear regressions and stepwise regression. The results showed statistical significance for stress and sedentary behavior together, only stress was associated with MSD (p = 0.011). The result of the two simple linear regressions resulted in stress associated with MSD (p = 0.008) while sedentary behavior did not (p = 0.280). the null hypotheses could not be rejected because sedentary behaviour did not associate with MSD and a comparison between adjusted R2 gave stress separately (adjusted R2 = 0.061) a better model than stress and sedentary behavior together (adjusted R2 = 0.056).

Womit und wann fängt die neue Arbeitswelt an? Indem wir das Büro verlassen? Wie und wo wollen wir künftig arbeiten und welche Werkzeuge benötigen wir dafür? Microsoft Deutschland lebt die neue Arbeitswelt mit seinen flexiblen Arbeitsmodellen und der offenen Unternehmenskultur bereits seit vielen Jahren und hat mit dem Manifest für neues Arbeiten vor einem Jahr die Diskussion um die Wissensarbeit der Zukunft angestoßen. Mit dem Buch „Out of Office – Warum wir die Arbeit neu erfinden müssen“ findet diese Debatte nun ihre Fortsetzung. "Wir haben dieses Buch mit der Absicht verfasst, die Büroarbeit der Zukunft neu zu definieren,", so die Autoren Dr. Elke Frank, Personalchefin bei Microsoft Deutschland und Dr. Thorsten Hübschen, verantwortlich für das Office Geschäft. "Out of Office" erscheint im Redline-Verlag und ist ab sofort im Handel erhältlich.

Sammanfattning Syftet med denna kvalitativa interventionsstudie var att undersöka hur anställda med stillasittande kontorsarbete upplever hälsocoaching med fokus på fysisk aktivitet och stillasittande. Arbetet har utgått från följande tre frågeställningar: ·      Vilka fördelar upplever de anställda med hälsocoachinterventionen på arbetsplatsen? ·      Vilka faktorer i hälsocoachinterventionen upplever de anställda som stöttande för att upprätthålla hälsosamma vanor på arbetsplatsen?  ·      Vilken roll upplever de anställda att en hälsocoach på arbetsplatsen kan ha för deras hälsovanor?   Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med samtliga sju deltagare/anställda med stillasittande kontorsarbete, för att undersöka hur de upplevt hälsocoachinterventionen på arbetsplatsen.   Kvalitativ innehållsanalys användes för att analysera datainsamlingen. Resultatet besvarar studiens forskningsfrågor enligt följande teman: Fördelar: En arena för hälsofrågor, Hälsocoachens breda kunskap, Individuellt samtal på de anställdas arbetsplats.  Stöttande faktorer: Hälsocoachingens individanpassning, Styrkan med målsättning. Hälsocoachens roll: Förebyggande roll, Holistisk roll, Pushande och stöttande roll.    Slutsatsen som dras i denna interventionsstudie är att anställda med stillasittande kontorsarbete upplever både fördelar och stöttande faktorer i hälsocoachinterventionen för att upprätthålla hälsosamma vanor på arbetsplatsen. De har därmed en positiv upplevelse av hälsocoachinterventionen på arbetsplatsen. De uttrycker att det finns ett stort behov av fortsatt hälsocoaching som kan integreras på fler arbetsplatser. De anställda upplever att hälsocoachen kan ha både en förebyggande-, holistisk, stöttande och pushande roll, för deras hälsovanor på arbetsplatsen. / Abstract The purpose of this qualitative intervention study was to investigate how employees with sedentary office work experience health coaching with a focus on physical activity and sedentary behavior. The work has been based on the following three questions: • What benefits do the employees experience with the health coach intervention in the workplace? • Which factors in the health coach intervention do the employees perceive as supportive in maintaining healthy habits in the workplace? • What role do employees feel that a workplace health coach can have for their health habits?   Semi-structured interviews were conducted with all seven participants/employees with sedentary office work, to investigate how they experienced the health coach intervention at the workplace.   Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data collection. The results answer the study's research questions according to the following themes: Advantages: An arena for health issues, The health coach's broad knowledge, Individual conversation at the employees' workplace. Supporting factors: Individual adaptation of health coaching, Strength with goal setting. The health coach's role: Preventive role, Holistic role, Pushing and supporting role.   The conclusion drawn in this intervention study is that employees with sedentary office work experience both benefits and supportive factors in the health coach intervention to maintain healthy habits in the workplace. They thus have a positive experience of the health coach intervention in the workplace. They express that there is a great need for continued health coaching that can be integrated in more workplaces. The employees feel that the health coach can have both a preventive, holistic, supportive and pushing role for their health habits in the workplace.

Working in front of visual display units, VDU, has become more and more common and an increasingly number of office workers spend a larger part of their working day in front of a monitor. Thus, work-related eye disorders associated with VDU use increase. Employers has a responsibility to prevent accidents and sickness among their employees, which partly can be done by risk assessments of visual ergonomic conditions at the office workplace. The purpose of this master thesis was to investigate how VDU office workers with, or without, eye- or neck problems perceive the lighting conditions in relation to how an ergonomist who has gone through a nine-day visual ergonomics education, assess the lighting. Data has been collected by 48 ergonomics specialists and work environment engineers who risk assessed 204 VDU stations at different offices in Sweden using a new visual ergonomics risk assessment method. The results showed several strong connections between the assessment made by the trained technician and the individual VDU workers perception of lighting conditions, such as the general lighting and glare. The technician noticed however more risks than the individual worker did. VDU workers with eye-strain reports more problems with their lighting conditions in the office compared to those without eye-strain. The technician’s assessment of glare, and the individual VDU worker´s experience of strong lights hade the most impact on reported eye-strain. VDU workers with neck pain did not report any problems with their lighting conditions in contrast to the technician who reported an increased risk at both general lightning and glare. / Att arbeta framför dator har blivit allt vanligare och allt fler arbetar stor del av sin arbetsdag framför en bildskärm. De arbetsrelaterade besvären i samband med detta ökar. Arbetsgivaren ska förebygga ohälsa och olycksfall vilket bland annat kan göras genom att riskbedöma synergonomiska förhållanden på kontorsarbetsplatsen. Syftet med examensarbetet var att undersöka hur individer med respektive utan ögon- eller nackbesvär vid bildskärmsarbete på kontor uppfattar sina belysningsförhållanden i relation till hur en ergonom som utbildats inom synergonomi och belysning under en 9 dagars utbildning bedömer belysningsförhållandet. Data är insamlat av 48 ergonomer och arbetsmiljöingenjörer som riskbedömt 204 bildskärmsarbetsplatser på olika kontor med hjälp av en ny synergonomisk riskbedömningsmetod. Resultatet visar att det finns flera starka samband mellan ergonomens bedömning och individens uppfattning av belysningsförhållandena, exempelvis gällande allmänbelysningen och bländningen. Ergonomen uppmärksammar dock fler risker än vad individen gör. Individer med ögonbesvär rapporterar i högre grad besvär med sina belysningsförhållanden på kontoret jämfört med individer utan besvär och den belysningsrelaterade faktor som har störst betydelse för om individen anger ögonbesvär är ergonomens bedömning och individens uppfattning av bländning/starka lampor. Individer med nackbesvär rapporterar inga större besvär med belysningsförhållandena i motsatts till ergonomen som rapporterar risker med både bländningen och allmänbelysningen.

In the meeting between women from office- and library work and the computer technology and organizational changes, different actions were found. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse this meeting to consider the situation of the employed when computer technology and new organization are implemented, to discuss the importance of prior social and working life with regard to the understanding of the meeting and to address the working conditions in the 1980s with special attention to women. The starting point for the analysis of the meeting is an empirical study. The study uses qualitative data from interviews with 30 women. 24 women expresses criticism, 6 expresses consent, with the renewals. The analysis has three levels. At the first level the contents of the interviews are described. At the second level, from a theory of action, criticism and consent are considered for both foundations and forms of action. At the third level these forms of action are discussed in relation to a list of historical conditions for the social and working life of women generally. The thesis shows, firstly, that in the criticism and the consent there are three forms of action. These are the department-based form of action, the solidarity form and the individual form. Secondly, that in light of the socio-historical structures it becomes possible to see the three forms of action as three types of interest for development of work and organization. Thus behind both criticism and consent there is an interest in development and change. In the context of the socio-historical perspectives this interest is emphasized. The thesis shows, thirdly, that both the hopes and the disappointments of womens prior working life are reproduced in the 1980s. Lastly, that the forms of action and the types of interest reflect the limited possibilities for women in the female-occupations to change their position in the working life. / digitalisering@umu

I samband med covid-19 pandemin tvingades mängder med scrumteam att arbeta hemifrån vilket ändrade förutsättningarna för deras kommunikation. Omställningen har lett till att det inte varit genomförbart att kommunicera face-to-face i samma utsträckning som tidigare. Kommunikationen spelar en viktig roll för att ett team som arbetar agilt ska lyckas med sin utvecklingsprocess. Scrum är utvecklat för att främja samarbete och en bra kommunikation. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur påtvingat hemarbete påverkat kommunikationen i scrumteam som tidigare arbetat tillsammans på kontor. Studien använde en kvalitativ forskningsansats och data samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer och tolkades utifrån Media Synchronicity Theory (MST). Resultatet visar att kroppsspråk och respons har reducerats efter omställningen till hemarbete och att den informella kommunikationen har påverkats på grund av avsaknaden av face-to-face kommunikation. Det har även framkommit indikationer på att kommunikationskanalerna som används i det dagliga scrummötet inte är de mest fördelaktiga utifrån den teoretiska analysen. / The covid-19 pandemic enforced large numbers of scrum teams to work from home, which changed the conditions of their communication. The change has led to it not being possible to communicate face-to-face to the same extent as before. Communication plays an important role for an agile team to succeed in their development process. Scrum is developed to promote good communication and collaboration. The purpose of this study is to investigate how enforced working from home has affected communication in scrum teams that previously worked together in offices. This study used a qualitative research approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and interpreted based on Media Synchronicity Theory (MST). The results show that body language and feedback have been reduced after the transition to enforced working from home and that informal communication has been affected due to the lack of face-to-face communication. There have also been indications that the communication channels used in daily scrum are not the most advantageous based on the theoretical analysis.

The current epidemic of overweight and obesity has been partly credited to a growing trend for snacking and sedentary work behaviors. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional survey was to investigate whether the difference between snack food reinforcement during work and non-work hours and work food motives predicted BMI among U. S. office workers. This study was based on the theoretical framework of the individual differences theory, in the context of the behavioral choice theory and reinforcement theory. The independent variables were food reinforcement and food motives; the dependent variable was BMI. Descriptive, correlational, and exploratory analyses were used. The survey was administered to a sample of 100 adult male and female office workers using SurveyMonkey. The results of the study determined that there was a statistically significant difference in food reinforcement during work hours versus non-work hours; however, only change in intensity was a statistically significant predictor for the workers' BMI class scores (p < .05). Moreover, during work-hours, office workers were willing to exert more effort (pay more) to obtain these snack foods than during non-work hours. An increase in work intensity was associated with an increase in the odds of being obese, with an odds ratio of 1.050 (95% C.I. [1.016, 1.084]). Food motives were not associated with BMI class scores (p < .05). These analyses have provided support for the hypotheses that food reinforcement is greater during work hours among office workers. As a result, they have significant positive social change implications which include relative policy changes within companies, tailoring the workplace environment to meet individual needs, providing healthier snack food choices, and increasing prices on high energy-dense foods. The workplace environment can provide opportunities for dietary, physical and worksite environmental change as well as individual behavior changes. It is important to continue to investigate how the workplace food environment may influence energy intake and weight-related behaviors to create awareness among this population. The more individuals and organizations know about these environmental food-related behaviors, the more opportunity they may have to take action in mitigating risk for weight gain during work and non-work hours.

Office work usually involves prolonged sedentary behavior and health risks. The purpose of the present study was to investigate office workers' views on physical activity and how they believe their employers should work to reduce sedentary behavior. Theory of Planned Behavior and Self-Determination Theory were used as the theoretical framework. Seven qualitative interviews were conducted with office workers at a company in northern Sweden. The company has a strong culture of exercise and training as well as several health-promoting activities. Last year, a health survey indicated that many employees had back and neck problems. An inductive thematic analysis of the interviews showed that physical activity and movement are perceived as important for both physical and mental health. Factors such as habits and norms can constitute an obstacle to movement during the working day. If health interventions from the employer to counteract long periods of sitting are to be successful, they should be autonomous, performed jointly and easy to accomplish.

This diploma thesis deals with a situations of workers of the labour Office of the CZECH republic department care allowance, who are in the performance of their work influenced by certain factors, which are in this thesis discussed. In the thesis is include the legislative framework of social work, of inclusive a participating observation, ethical dilemmas in connection with the entry into a dwelling, where is lived the dying person, and further includes claims on the moral quality of social workers. A purpose of the thesis is to approach the work of social workers, the labour Office of the CZECH republic at the department's contribution to care and their utilization in the performance of social work.