Efficacy of an ergonomics intervention for remote college students

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid adaptation of online education, requiring university students to complete their schoolwork remotely. There is a gap in the evidence-based literature regarding these novel home workstations and the potential to help students understand ergonomics and adjust their workstations. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine if a remote ergonomics intervention would encourage students to make improvements to their workstation and increase their knowledge of ergonomics. METHODS: Participants completed an ergonomics quiz, workstation evaluation, activity time log, and photographs of their workstation. There were three randomly assigned groups, the control group of 26 participants and the first and second intervention groups with 25 participants each. The first and second intervention groups received information sheets regarding proper workstations. The second intervention group was also required to participate in an ergonomics workshop. Six weeks after receiving the interventions, the control group and two intervention groups completed the materials once again. Eight participants from the control group, 12 from the information intervention group, and 14 from the participatory intervention group completed the study. RESULTS: One-way ANOVA tests between the three groups suggest there was no significant difference in ergonomic knowledge or changes made to workstations. However, the remote participatory ergonomics group increased their level of knowledge about ergonomics. CONCLUSIONS: An ergonomics intervention did not impact one group to change their workstation more than others in six weeks. Future studies on this topic should be conducted over a longer amount of time and with more participants to allow for more opportunities for behavior and workstation changes.