The development of a computer operator risk index to assist computer operators

This study used 100 participants (58 females and 42 males), with a mean age of 45.8 years from an age range of 20 to 64 years, who had worked at a computer for at least 1 year and worked at least three hours per day at the computer. Not only were females and males incorporated into this study, but four ethnic backgrounds as well.; Participants were asked to complete a demographic survey developed for this study, as well as a combined pain/discomfort rating chart adapted from Corlett and Bishops (1976) body chart and Borg's (1970) CR-10 pain rating scale, a self-evaluating stress test, adapted from Yang' (2003) self-evaluation stress test, and a Likert-type survey, which was part of the CORI form, concerning the computer operator's work environment. The remaining sections of the CORI form were completed from observations of an expert analyst.; Information contained in the demographic survey and the pain/discomfort chart was used to verify previous research that stated gender was considered a risk factor in computer operators for related illnesses or injuries. In this study Chi-Square tests showed no association (X 2 = 0.036, p = 0.85) in gender to show this to be true.; Data from the pain/discomfort chart was combined with data taken from the CORI form and found to show a significant difference with all four major risk variables. Time, posture, stress, and environmental measures at alpha = .05, showed correlation (rho < .05) with the pain measures.; Furthermore, the demographic survey contained data stating that some participants had been previously medically diagnosed with a computer related injury or disease and those participants, using Chi-Square testing, were compared to the results produced from the CORI equation and found to have a significant difference and high correlation (X2 = 6.683, p = .01).; From the data retrieved and calculated in this study a logistic regression model was developed that provided the expert analyst with a means with which to measure risk to computer operators. This model included the four independent variables: time, posture, stress, and environment, which are also the four main sections of the CORI form.