Work with visual display terminals: psychosocial aspects and health. Report on a World Health Organization meeting

Abstract

When health effects related to the use of visual display terminals (VDTs) can be substantiated, complaints are largely associated with poor job and workstation design. Psychosocial aspects of work with VDTs may affect users' health and well-being and include a variety of situations: work demands, work design and organizational problems, workload breakdown control, pacing, social support and isolation, deskilling, management of change and user involvement, task analysis and job design, training, work scheduling, and rest periods. Although various physical aspects may affect the health of VDT users and are, to a large extent, inseparable from psychosocial effects, they have been addressed in a previous report. This report takes the view that, in the prevention of VDT-related health problems, psychosocial factors are at least as important as the physical ergonomics of workstations and the working environment.