Försäkringskassan (FK) har fått i uppdrag av regeringen att vidareutveckla bedömningsförfarandet för sjukskrivna i Sverige. Som en del i detta har bland annat ett nytt bedömningsinstrument tagits fram för att användas vid arbetsterapeutisk kompletterande bedömning av medicinska förutsättningar för arbete. Instrumentet bygger på det redan befintliga bedömningsinstrumentet Assessment of Work Performance (AWP), med tre utvalda arbetsuppgifter och kallas för AWP-FK. Syftet med den här studien var att göra en initial prövning av AWP-FK med fokus på innehållsvaliditet och användbarhet. Som metod användes kvalitativa telefonintervjuer med nio arbetsterapeuter som ingick i Försäkringskassans pilotstudie. Resultatet indikerar att AWP-FK har en god innehållsvaliditet och användbarhet. Arbetsterapeuterna i studien ansåg att instrumentet var relevant för både målgruppen och bedömning i förhållande till den reguljära arbetsmarknaden. Några förslag på förändringar föreslogs, t.ex. att förtydliga vissa instruktioner i manualen till AWP-FK. I diskussionen tas vikten av att klienterna förstår syftet med bedömningen och får återkoppling på sitt utförande upp. Även bedömningsmiljöns påverkan på bedömningen har diskuterats. Vidare studier kring AWP-FK behövs för att säkerställa en god validitet, användbarhet och reliabilitet. / The Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan, FK) has been commissioned by the Government to further develop the assessment procedure for those on sick leave in Sweden.  As part of this, a new assessment instrument has been developed for occupational therapy assessment of the medical ability to work. The instrument is based on the Assessment of Work Performance (AWP), using three selected tasks, and is called AWP-FK. The purpose of this study was to do an initial assessment of AWP-FK with a focus on content validity and utility. The method chosen was qualitative telephone interviews with nine occupational therapists who participated in the Agency's pilot study. The results indicate that AWP-FK has good content validity and utility. The occupational therapists in the study believed that the instrument was relevant, both for the target group and assessment in relationship to the regular labour market. Some suggestions for change have been included, for example that certain instructions in the AWP-FK manual be clarified. The importance of clients understanding the purpose of the assessment and receiving feedback on their performance, and the influence of the assessment environment is discussed. Further studies on AWP-FK are needed to ensure high validity, utility and reliability.

In this study information-related activities engaged in by engineers during work task performance in the research and development centre at Sandvik Materials Technology AB are investigated. The purpose of the present study was to identify and achieve an understanding of the information-related activities performed by engineers during work task performance in a corporate context. The work task performance in focus is the task of writing a technical report.The study rests on methodological triangulation through the use of a work task diary, a semi-structured questionnaire and focus groups. In total 16 engineers participated in the study. The theoretical framework is based on theories of information in social practice, the information seeking process and the concept of task.The study presents results showing that engineers work in a highly complex information environment and their work task performance is to a high degree affected by situational attributes such as previous experience, type of work task, time, target group, and access to information. The results show that the information sources preferred by engineers have not changed over time; rather a change is seen in the type of sources. There is a distinct increase in the use of electronic sources; which in turn seem to affect the way engineers perceive accessibility. The study also shows that there are evident situational and contextual attributes affecting the information-related activities. Information needed to perform a work task is strongly related to data retrieved from experiments. There also seems to be an embedded tolerance for a low scientific level in technical reports, even though the scientific practice is the norm.This study also shows that the concept of work task forms a relevant basis for studies of information-related activities, particularly in combination with theories on information in social practice. The model of the work task process combined with a faceted classification of work tasks provides a sound methodological tool for the analysis of work tasks in different contexts.

Proactive behaviour implies taking initiative and mastering unexpected situations, and hence, is desirable in different situations. The present thesis includes three empirical studies intended to understand the consequences of proactive behaviour, as well as the factors that contribute to proactive behaviour at work and when facing unemployment. More specifically, whether job design, as measured by objective work task analysis, provides conditions conducive to proactivity in the workplace and when facing unemployment. The results of proactive behaviour during unemployment were also of interest. Study I focused on the influence of job design on individuals’ personal initiative and confidence in their ability when facing unemployment. Participants were employees at a downsizing Swedish assembly plant. Confidence in one’s ability mediated the relationship between job design and personal initiative, and personal initiative affected job search behaviour when advised to be dismissed. Study II, a longitudinal exploration, focused on the predictors of re-employment in the same group as in Study I. Men were more than nine times as likely as women to obtain jobs within 15 months. Individuals without children were more than seven times as likely as those with children to find work within 15 months. The desire to change occupation and willingness to relocate also increased the probability of being re-employed, whereas anonymous-passive job-search behaviour and work-related self-efficacy actually decreased the probability of re-employment. The number of job applications did not impact later re-employment. Study III analysed job design as a predictor of group initiative and self-organisational activities in semiautonomous industrial work groups. An input-process-output model showed that group processes such as reflexivity mediated the impact of job design on proactivity in work groups. Taken together, these studies suggest that work task analysis a useful tool, since it provides access to information that cannot be obtained with self-report measures. Job design indirectly affected proactivity both in the face of unemployment, and in industrial work groups. Further, it is worthwhile to continue identifying the antecedents and consequences of proactivity, as this seems to be an important factor regarding work and unemployment.

Risken för att drabbas av stressrelaterade sjukdomar är hög bland sjukvårdspersonal bland annat då kraven på kvalitet, effektivitet och arbetstempo har ökat. I diskussionen kring sjuksköterskors arbetssituation är saknas det aktuell kunskap om hur sjuksköterskor inom den neonatala intensivvården fördelar sin tid under arbetsdagen och vilka arbetsmoment som sjuksköterskorna utför i sitt dagliga arbete. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka arbetsmoment en sjuksköterska på neonatalintensiven utför under ett arbetspass samt kartlägga hur tidsåtgången fördelade sig mellan dessa arbetsmoment. En strukturerad tidsstudie genomfördes därför på en neonatal intensivvårdsavdelning i Sverige. Resultatet visade hur sjuksköterskorna fördelar sin tid mellan 69 olika arbetsmoment i 23 kategorier inom åtta kompetensområden samt hur omvårdnadsarbetet fördelade sig tidsmässigt mellan den direkt patientnära kontakten och övriga patientrelaterade uppgifter. 54 procent av den totalt arbetade tiden ägnades åt indirekt omvårdnad som förberedande arbete, hantering av material och samverkan i vårdkedjan medan 35 procent ägnas åt patientnära omvårdnad. Sjuksköterskearbetet är uppdelat mellan många olika arbetsmoment och arbetsområden, det är hög tid att se över sjuksköterskerollen och de uppgifter hon tilldelas som leder iväg från patientsängen. / The risk for acquire stress related diseases is high in medical staff since the demand on quality, efficiency and work pace has increased. There is not much recent knowledge about how nurses in neonatal intensive care spend their time and which work tasks the nurses perform in their everyday work. The aim of this study was to examine which work tasks a nurse in neonatal intensive care perform during their workday and present a survey to how the time divides between these different tasks. A structured time study was performed at a neonatal intensive care unit in Sweden. The result show how the nurses divide their time between 69 different work tasks divided in to 23 categories in eight areas of competence and how the nursing work divide in terms of time between direct patient care and other patient related tasks. Nurses spend 54 percent of the total worked time to indirect care like preparations for nursing tasks, material and cooperation with external caregivers while 35 percent where spent at direct bedside care. The nurses time is divided between many different tasks and areas of expertise, it is necessary to evaluate the nursing profession and the tasks that leads them away from the patients bed.

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Worker fatigue has been the focus of research for many years. However, there is limited research available on the evaluation and measurement of fatigue for prolonged mentally demanding activities. The objectives of the study are (1 )to evaluate fatigue for prolonged, mentally demanding work-tasks by considering task-dependent, task-independent and personal factors, (2) to identify effective subjective and objective fatigue measures, (3) to establish a relationship between time and factors that affect fatigue (4) to develop models to predict fatigue. A total of 16 participants, eight participants with western cultural backgrounds and eight participants with eastern cultural backgrounds, currently employed in mentally demanding work-tasks (e.g., programmers, computer simulation experts, etc.) completed the study protocols. Each participant was evaluated during normal working hours in their workplace for a 4-hour test session, with a 15-minute break provided after two hours. Fatigue was evaluated using subjective questionnaires (Borg Perceived Level of Fatigue Scale and the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Index (SOFI)); and objective measures (change in resting heart rate and salivary cortisol excretion). Workload was also assessed using the NASA-TLX. Fatigue and workload scales were collected every 30 minutes, cortisol at the start and finish of each 2-hour work block, and heart rate throughout the test session. Fatigue significantly increased over time (p-value <0.0001). All measures, except cortisol hormone, returned to near baseline level following the 15-minute break (p-value <0.0001). Ethnicity was found to have limited effects on fatigue development. Poor to moderate (Rho = 0.35 to 0.75) significant correlations were observed between the subjective and objective measures. Time and fatigue load (a factor that impacts fatigue development) significantly interact to explain fatigue represented by a hyperbolic relationship. Predictive models explained a maximum of 87% of the variation in the fatigue measures. As expected, fatigue develops over time, especially when considering other factors that can impact fatigue (e.g. hours slept, hours of work), providing further evidence of the complex nature of fatigue. As the 15-minute break was found to reduce all measures of fatigue, the development of appropriate rest breaks may mitigate some of the negative consequences of fatigue.