Ergonomic evaluation of non-powered hand tools: introduction and validation in dentistry

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Abstract

 Background and Objective: Non-powered hand tools are
frequently used in many trades and industries. The importance of paying
attention to ergonomic design, evaluation and selection of hand tools, justify
the necessity of creating an appropriate evaluating tool. The aim of the
present study was to desing such a questionnaire as well as to validate it.   Materials and Methods: Based on the literature, previous
studies and diverse usability models, a primary questionnaire was written with
34 items to which the validation process was applied. In order to determine the
reliability of the questionnaire, four commonly used non-owered dental hand
tools was evaluated by 30 dental students.   Results: After confirming face and content validity,the
instrument yields good internal reliability by Cronbach's alpha coefficient
equal to 0.85, 0.92 0.94 and 0.94 for aspiration syringe, usual syringe, usual
forceps and notched forceps,respectively. Finally, the "ergonomic
evaluation of non-powered hand tools questionnaire" consists 20 items in a
3-factor structure including usability, safety and physical interaction.   Conclusion: The proposed questionnaire is quite brief and
written in a clear and common language. Our results confirmed its applicability
for dental non-powered hand tools. However, it is preferable to conduct
furthere researches in order to evaluate its validity in other occupations and
other non-powered hand tools. 

Keywords

Daneshvar Medicine
Volume 20, Issue 3 - Serial Number 100
July and August 2012
Pages 11-21

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