Quantifying Subjective Reactions to Wearing Protective Equipment

Abstract

Subjective rating scales provide a way of quantifying individual perceptions of sensory and other stimuli making them useful to designers, manufacturers, marketing and safety personnel in product evaluation and certification. Quantification of subjective reactions to wearing protective equipment can lead to improvements in user satisfaction, increased equipment use, and a higher level of personal protection. Subjective responses may also determine the effectiveness of protective equipment since perceived discomfort often reduces usage levels. Unfortunately, development of methods for assessing clinical symptoms and subjective reactions in industrial settings has been slow. Useful to those embarking on such research would be a computerized presentation and data collection system which can also be administered in a paper/pencil format. Therefore, proposed is a rating scale system and procedure called Subjective State Change Measures (SSCM) which has been developed for overall quantification of subjective reactions to wearing respirators and other protective equipment. Early experiments utilizing SSCM have demonstrated validity, reliability, sensitivity, convenience, subject acceptance, and ease of data collection and analysis.