Caregiver Resilience: Improving Ergonomics for the Safety, Comfort, and Health of Caregivers

Abstract

Hospitals are not always functional for caregivers. Caregivers have to sit for long hours while they take care of patients. In addition, caregivers have to sleep on uncomfortable furniture in order to be in close proximity to their loved ones. Prolonged sitting with immobility in the knee and hip joints, and compression of the popliteal vein at the edge of the chair, results in reduced venous blood flow, which could lead to venous thrombosis. In addition, inadequate sleep as a result of using uncomfortable furniture along with caregiver responsibilities and worries can lead to a diminished ability to think and make decisions, and have a negative impact on the health of the caregiver. Novel ergonomic design interventions such as the Venous Chair to help improve venous blood flow for seated activities and the Sit2Sleep furniture for sleeping are therefore essential to improve the physical and psychological resilience of caregivers.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Survey for Use with the Venous Chair

Please complete this questionnaire. Your name will not be included with this questionnaire, so your responses are completely confidential . Please circle the number and/or write your responses.

• 1. Age

• 2. Gender:

• 3. Ethnicity:

• 4. How long does it take for you to come to the hospital?

• 5. How long are you expected to stay in the hospital during this visit?

• 6. What is the reason for your hospital visit?

Based on your experience after using the Venous Chair, please answer the following questions:

• (1) Strongly agree, (2) Agree, (3) Neutral, (4) Disagree, (5) Strongly disagree

Description	1	2	3	4	5
1. I have sore muscles
2. My back hurts
3. I feel stiff
4. I feel tired
5. I feel pain
6. I feel numb
7. I feel uneven pressure
8. I feel cramped
9. I feel relaxed
10. I feel refreshed
11. I feel restful
12. I feel pleased
13. I feel comfortable
14. I feel the furniture is spacious
15. I feel the furniture is visually appealing
16. I like the furniture

Appendix 2: Interview Questions After Using the Venous Chair

• 1. What are your overall impressions of the furniture?

• 2. What was your impression of the material of the furniture?

• 3. If you had to give the furniture a grade, from A to F, where A was outstanding and F was very poor, what grade would you give the furniture?

  • (a) Why would you give the furniture this grade?

• 4. What did you like best about the furniture?

• 5. Was there anything you found less appealing about the furniture?

• 6. Raise any critical incidents observed when the individual was seated on the furniture —explore as much as possible one incident at a time: What were the actions that you think led up to the incident? What was the problem? How did you try to resolve it? What were you thinking at that time? etc.

• 7. Did you find similarities or differences between this piece of furniture and others you have used in the past?

• 8. Are there features you would like to see added to the furniture? If so, what?

• 9. If you could suggest one change to this furniture, what change would you suggest?

• 10. Would you consider using this furniture in the future? _____ Why/why not?

• 11. Would you recommend this furniture to a friend or relative? _____ Why/why not?

• 12. Do you have any other questions or comments based on your experience with the furniture?

Appendix 3: Survey for Use After Using the Sit2Sleep Furniture

Please complete this questionnaire. Your name will not be included with this questionnaire, so your responses are completely confidential . Please circle the number and/or write your responses.

• 1. Age:

• 2. Gender:

• 3. Ethnicity:

• 4. How long does it take for you to come to the hospital?

• 5. How long are you expected to stay in the hospital during this visit?

• 6. What is the reason for your hospital visit?

Based on your experience after using the Sit2Sleep, please answer the following questions:

• (1) Strongly agree, (2) Agree, (3) Neutral, (4) Disagree, (5) Strongly disagree

Description	1	2	3	4	5
1. I have sore muscles
2. My back hurts
3. I feel stiff
4. I feel tired
5. I feel pain
6. I feel numb
7. I feel uneven pressure
8. I feel cramped
9. I feel relaxed
10. I feel refreshed
11. I feel restful
12. I feel pleased
13. I feel comfortable
14. I feel the furniture is spacious
15. I feel the furniture is visually appealing
16. I like the furniture
17. I feel the furniture is easy to transform
18. I feel the furniture serves multiple purposes

Appendix 4: Interview Questions After Using the Sit2Sleep Furniture

• 1. What are your overall impressions of the furniture?

• 2. What was your impression of the material of the furniture?

• 3. If you had to give the furniture a grade, from A to F, where A was outstanding and F was very poor, what grade would you give the furniture?

  • (a) Why would you give the furniture this grade?

• 4. What did you like best about the furniture?

• 5. Was there anything you found less appealing about the furniture?

• 6. Raise any critical incidents observed when the individual was seated on the furniture —explore as much as possible one incident at a time: What were the actions that you think led up to the incident? What was the problem? How did you try to resolve it? What were you thinking at that time? etc.

• 7. Did you find similarities or differences between this piece of furniture and others you have used in the past?

• 8. Are there features you would like to see added to the furniture? If so, what?

• 9. If you could suggest one change to this furniture, what change would you suggest?

• 10. Would you consider using this furniture in the future? _____ Why/why not?

• 11. Would you recommend this furniture to a friend or relative? _____ Why/why not?

• 12. Do you have any other questions or comments based on your experience with the furniture?