Physical and psychosocial occupational strain

Sammanfattning: This monography thesis is based on five empirical studies of physical and psychosocial occupational strain in working life. The first three studies concern the working environment of crane couplers. The first study, a questionnaire study, showed that monotonous postures and movements, heavy lifting and long walking distances were common reasons for regarding crane coupling as a physically strenuous work. The second study, a medical study, showed that clinical findings were more prevalent in the right neck- and shoulder region. The third study, an electromyographic study showed that the physical strain in crane coupling can be reduced by using wooden or other light weight spacers, to rearrange the layout so that slinging is always possible or by using slings mode of fibre or other light weight material. This study also indicated that crane coupling work may cause harmful effects to the shoulder- or neck region. The fourth study examined psychosocial strain and qualification in administrative computer work by using questionnaires, interviews and physiological measurements at repeated occasions. The results indicated a good agreement between level of qualification, psychosocial work load and job satisfaction. Computerisation lead to increased qualifications at work. This improved job satisfaction but at the same time resulted in an increased workload. The fifth study concerns how patients visiting primary health care perceive physical and psychosocial occupational strain. It could be shown that the patients perceived physical as well as psychosocial strain as important working environment problems