Daily self-reports resulted in information bias when assessing exposure duration to computer use

Details

• Personal Author:
  Amick BC III ; Chang C-H ; del Pino RJ ; Dennerlein, Jack T. ; Johnson PW ; Menendez CC ; Robertson MM
• Description:
  Background: Self-reported exposure duration to computer use is widely used in exposure assessment, and this study examined the associated information bias in a repeated measures setting. Methods: For 3 weeks, 30 undergraduate students reported daily cumulative computer-use duration and musculoskeletal symptoms at four random times per day. Usage-monitor software installed onto participant's personal computers provided the reference measure. We compared daily self-reported and software-recorded duration, and modeled the effect of musculoskeletal symptoms on observed differences. Results: The relationships between daily self-reported and software-recorded computer use duration varied greatly across subject with Spearman's correlations ranging from -0.22 to 0.8. Self-reports generally overestimated computer use when software-recorded durations were less than 3.6 hr, and underestimated when above 3.6 hr. Experiencing symptoms was related to a 0.15-hr increase in self-reported duration after controlling for software-recorded duration. Conclusions: Daily self-reported computer-use duration had a weak-to-moderate correlation with software-recorded duration, and their relationship changed slightly with musculoskeletal symptoms. Self-reports resulted in both non-differential and differential information bias. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Computers Environmental Monitoring Ergonomics Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Exposure Assessment Biomechanics Computer-equipment Computer Use Exposure-assessment Muscles Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Musculoskeletal Disorders Posture Quantitative-analysis Repetitive-work Risk-analysis Risk-factors Self-report Statistical-analysis Time-weighted-average-exposure

  More +
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas ; Washington ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  53
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038410
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2010 Nov; 53(11):1142-1149
• Contact Point Address:
  Jack Dennerlein, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
• Email:
  jax@hsph.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20090831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:81cfd4ccf80507d375a0e914204621c74f67bb005b53bd7794898ab0011bc3e9ecf1579bbc61934276e2ee09b47fe8d37fde7157f1b8c2935bb647802519d7f1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192129/cdc_192129_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 265.76 KB ]