title: When is job rotation perceived useful and easy to use to prevent work-related musculoskeletal complaints?
abstract: Job rotation is often recommended to optimize physical work demands and prevent work-related musculoskeletal complaints, but little is known about possible facilitators and barriers to its usefulness and ease of use. Following a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews with employers (n = 12) and workers (n = 11) from the construction industry were conducted. Organizational climate, job autonomy, job characteristics and work processes were mentioned as either facilitators or barriers on an organizational level. Worker characteristics, work behavior and attitude were mentioned as either facilitators or barriers on an individual level. Following a structured approach to assess usefulness of job rotation to optimize physical work exposures and identifying barriers to usefulness and ease of use in relevant stakeholder groups is necessary in order to select or develop strategies to overcome these barriers, or to reject job rotation as a useful or easy to use intervention in the given context.
authors.affiliation: Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Priscilla C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Leider
authors.affiliation: Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Julitta S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Boschman
authors.affiliation: Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Monique H W
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Frings-Dresen
authors.affiliation: Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Arbouw, Dutch Health & Safety Institute Construction Industry, Harderwijk, The Netherlands. Electronic address: h.f.vandermolen@amc.nl.
authors.forename: Henk F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: van der Molen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D060389:Construction Industry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007587:Job Description; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010465:Perception; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Job rotation; Musculoskeletal complaints; Qualitative research