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Published Online First: 26 March 2007. doi:10.1136/oem.2005.026351
Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2007;64:541-547
Copyright © 2007 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Validity of questionnaire self-reports on computer, mouse and keyboard usage during a four-week period

Sigurd Mikkelsen1, Imogen Vilstrup2, Christina Funch Lassen1, Ann Isabel Kryger1, Jane Frølund Thomsen1 and Johan Hviid Andersen2

1 Department of Occupational Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark
2 Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Hospital, Herning, Denmark

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr S Mikkelsen
Department of Occupational Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Glostrup, Nordre Ringvej, DK 2600 Glostrup, Denmark; simi{at}glostruphosp.kbhamt.dk

Objective: To examine the validity and potential biases in self-reports of computer, mouse and keyboard usage times, compared with objective recordings.

Methods: A study population of 1211 people was asked in a questionnaire to estimate the average time they had worked with computer, mouse and keyboard during the past four working weeks. During the same period, a software program recorded these activities objectively. The study was part of a one-year follow-up study from 2000–1 of musculoskeletal outcomes among Danish computer workers.

Results: Self-reports on computer, mouse and keyboard usage times were positively associated with objectively measured activity, but the validity was low. Self-reports explained only between a quarter and a third of the variance of objectively measured activity, and were even lower for one measure (keyboard time). Self-reports overestimated usage times. Overestimation was large at low levels and declined with increasing levels of objectively measured activity. Mouse usage time proportion was an exception with a near 1:1 relation. Variability in objectively measured activity, arm pain, gender and age influenced self-reports in a systematic way, but the effects were modest and sometimes in different directions.

Conclusion: Self-reported durations of computer activities are positively associated with objective measures but they are quite inaccurate. Studies using self-reports to establish relations between computer work times and musculoskeletal pain could be biased and lead to falsely increased or decreased risk estimates.

Abbreviations: NUDATA, Neck and Upper extremity Disorders Among Technical Assistants; WPR, WorkPace Recorder


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Andersen, J H, Harhoff, M, Grimstrup, S, Vilstrup, I, Lassen, C F, Brandt, L P A, Kryger, A I, Overgaard, E, Hansen, K D, Mikkelsen, S (2008). Computer mouse use predicts acute pain but not prolonged or chronic pain in the neck and shoulder. Occup. Environ. Med. 65: 126-131 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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