International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Aidé Aracely Maldonado-Macías

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua 32310, Mexico
Interests: cognitive ergonomics; work stress; and musculoskeletal complains; work stress and overweight; mental workload assessment and measurement; occupational ergonomics; ergonomic evaluation of advanced manufacturing technology; organizational ergonomics; ergonomics in industry 4.0

Prof. Dr. Yordán Rodríguez

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Guest Editor

National School of Public Health, University of Antioquia, Medellin 050010, Colombia
Interests: work-related musculoskeletal disorders; workload assessment; system ergonomics; ergonomics in healthcare; occupational ergonomics; macroergonomics assessment; human factors and patient safety; lower limbs fatigue; ergonomics software; ergonomics interventions

Dr. Juan Luis Hernández Arellano

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, Ciudad Juárez 32310, Chihuahua, Mexico
Interests: human fatigue; mental workload; design and development of exoskeletons; structural equation modeling in ergonomics and human factors; ergonomics product design; usability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today's sociotechnical systems are increasingly complex, which has led to work environments being changed, modified, or adapted to meet the needs of organizations, institutions, and human beings. These constant transformations, in addition to the new nature of work, have affected human’s physical and mental health. They have also driven diseases related to psychosocial factors, work accidents, human error, high workload, work stress, occupational disease, poor work performance, and quality problems, among other adverse effects. Thus, studying and implementing new approaches in every workplace is relevant, especially in those work environments where there is an increasing trend of accidents or human errors related to occupational injuries, diseases, and psychosocial factors due to the new nature of the work. Currently, mental hurdles are more prominent than physical ones. In this sense, the study and application of new approaches in work environments to preserve physical and mental health are of particular interest to many professionals. Papers addressing these topics, especially those combining a high academic standard with a practical focus to provide innovative studies, implementations, and perspectives on human well-being and physical and mental health enhancements at work in new contexts and situations, are welcome. Thus, we hope that the articles contained within this Special Issue will provide new practical and theoretical perspectives, tools, applications, and innovative solutions to improve physical and mental health and human well-being.

Prof. Dr. Aidé Aracely Maldonado-Macías
Prof. Dr. Yordán Rodríguez
Dr. Juan Luis Hernández Arellano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

mental and physical health at work
work stress
workload assessment
psychosocial factors at work
health and well-being
musculoskeletal health
human error associated with accidents and injuries

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 891 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Perceived Occupational Noise Exposure and Depression in Young Finnish Adults

by Marja Heinonen-Guzejev, Alyce M. Whipp, Zhiyang Wang, Anu Ranjit, Teemu Palviainen, Irene van Kamp and Jaakko Kaprio

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 4850; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064850 - 9 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1536

Abstract

We investigated the association between perceived occupational noise exposure and depressive symptoms in young Finnish adults and whether noise sensitivity moderates this association. This study was based on an ongoing longitudinal twin study. We included those who had been working daily (n = 521) or weekly (n = 245) during the past 12 months (mean age 22.4, SD 0.7, 53% female). We asked about occupational noise exposure at age 22 and assessed depressive symptoms using the General Behavior Inventory (GBI) at age 17 and 22. Noise sensitivity and covariates were used in linear regression models. Perceived daily occupational noise exposure was associated, as a statistically independent main effect with depressive symptoms at age 22 (beta 1.19; 95% CI 0.09, 2.29) among all, and separately for females (beta 2.22; 95% CI 0.34, 4.09) but not males (beta 0.22; 95% CI −1.08, 1.52). Noise sensitivity was independently associated with depressive symptoms among all (beta 1.35; 95% CI 0.54, 2.17), and separately for males (beta 1.96; 95% CI 0.68, 3.24) but not females (beta 1.05; 95 % CI −0.04, 2.13). Noise sensitivity was independent of perceived occupational noise exposure. Pre-existing depressive symptoms at age 17 were predictive of perceived occupational noise exposure, suggesting complex interactions of noise and depression. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mental and Physical Health for Occupational Wellness)

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20 pages, 4341 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cognitive Analyses for Interface Design Using Dual N-Back Tasks for Mental Workload (MWL) Evaluation

by Nancy Ivette Arana-De las Casas, Jorge De la Riva-Rodríguez, Aide Aracely Maldonado-Macías and David Sáenz-Zamarrón

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(2), 1184; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021184 - 9 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1613

Abstract

In the manufacturing environments of today, human–machine systems are constituted with complex and advanced technology, which demands workers’ considerable mental workload. This work aims to design and evaluate a Graphical User Interface developed to induce mental workload based on Dual N-Back tasks for further analysis of human performance. This study’s contribution lies in developing proper cognitive analyses of the graphical user interface, identifying human error when the Dual N-Back tasks are presented in an interface, and seeking better user–system interaction. Hierarchical task analysis and the Task Analysis Method for Error Identification were used for the cognitive analysis. Ten subjects participated voluntarily in the study, answering the NASA-TLX questionnaire at the end of the task. The NASA-TLX results determined the subjective participants’ mental workload proving that the subjects were induced to different levels of mental workload (Low, Medium, and High) based on the ANOVA statistical results using the mean scores obtained and cognitive analysis identified redesign opportunities for graphical user interface improvement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mental and Physical Health for Occupational Wellness)

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