Invitation expert consultation Individual Working Practice 4 nov 2022

I would like to invite you to participate in an expert consultation. It is a the last step in a scoping review aimed to categorize interventions regarding the individual working practice (IWP). These categorisation is based on an extensive literature search and is a first step towards a conceptual framework for interventions in IWP to contribute to the prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

My name is Bert van de Wijdeven, working as a researcher at the Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Department Public and Occupational Health of the Amsterdam UMC. My supervisors are Bart Visser and Paul Kuijer.

For over 35 years I have earned my living training employees to improve their IWP. The aim was to reduce the risk of WMSD and in the context of vocational rehabilitation to achieve a timely and sustainable return to work. Examples of jobs are cleaners, order pickers, masons and cashiers. Now, at the end of my career, I have the time to ask myself: did I do the right thing and did I do it in de right way? I tried to find a framework to answer these questions but couldn’t find one. The development of such a conceptual framework is now the aim of my PhD project.

As a first step a scoping review was performed to categorize interventions on IWP. In an extensively literature search one hundred and ten studies were included describing an intervention on IWP. These studies described 810 topics to reduce exposure to physical ergonomic risk factors. These topics were coded by asking: what has the worker to do, change or develop to reduce that exposure? These coding ultimately resulted in eight categories of interventions in IWP: 1. Workplace adjustment; 2. Variation; 3. Exercising; 4. Use of aids; 5. Professional skills; 6. Professional manners; 7. Task content & task organisation; and 8. Motoric skills.

An important final step in this scoping review is the consultation of experts, like you. A Delphi study will be performed in two rounds for this consultation to explore whether consensus can be reached regarding the categories used and to find out if categories are being missed.

An expert is defined as someone with experience and/or knowledge in the field of interventions aimed at primary prevention of work-related disorders of the musculoskeletal system. For example experience in science, workplace advise or work-directed care.

If you do meet the inclusion criteria and would be willing to contribute in this Delphi study, we would appreciate it if you would send an email to l.c.vandewijdeven@amsterdamumc.nl . In a response I will send you a link for an online form with questions for the first round. It would be great if you could send that mail in before December 1^st 2022. The first round will focus on possible omissions, the second on consensus. Description of the categories is of course added in the first round.

The amount of time necessary for completion of each round will vary with each panellist, and is expected to be 20 minutes. I hope you will find the process interesting and of course you will receive the results. The participants who appreciate it will be mentioned in the acknowledgment of the corresponding paper.

Any information that you provide will be confidential. When the results of the study are reported,

you will not be identifiable in the findings unless you want to be named in the acknowledgement. Your name will not be recorded on any rounds; instead, you will be allocated an unique code that can only be identified by the primary researcher. You will remain anonymous to the other participants (or experts) throughout this Delphi study and only the primary researcher (Bert van de Wijdeven) will be able to identify your specific answers. Return of completed Delphi rounds implies consent to participate.

We sincerely hope you will agree to participate. If you have any questions please e-mail or call me at +310653371646.

Thank you for your time and any help you may be able to offer for this study.

Yours sincerely,

Bert van de Wijdeven

Bert van de Wijdeven | PhD-student | Individual Working Practice and work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders

Public and Occupational Health |