This article describes the development of the Occupational Performance History Interview, an instrument designed to gather an accurate and clinically useful history of an individual's work, play, and self-care performance from psychosocially and/or physically disabled adolescents, adults, and older persons. Following the identification and validation of content and the development of format, th...

Occupational epidemiology has its roots in classical medicine. However, it became a quantitative discipline only in the 20th century, through the pioneering work of individuals such as Case, Lloyd, and Selikoff and organizations such as the Division of Occupational Health of the U.S. Public Health Service. Studies of chemical dye workers, bituminous coal miners, smelting workers, and uranium mi...

SUMMARY The Occupational Performance History Interview-Second Version (OPHI-II) is a semi-structured interview that gathers life history information. The interview data is used to score three rating scales and complete a narrative slope. Previous research has primarily examined the validity of the scales. This qualitative study sought to understand from the perspectives of therapists and client...

In March 2012, a 37-year female patient presented to the emergency department with a 6 months history of progressive dyspnoea, fatigue, insomnia and generalized body pains. There was no accompanying cough or haemoptysis. She was a non-smoker with no background medical or surgical history. No risk factors for pulmonary disease could be identified from her occupational history. Prior to her admis...

This report contains the proceedings of the Workshop on Needs and Resources for Occupational Mortality Data, January 21-22, 1987. The Workshop was sponsored by the National Center for Health Statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The use of industry and occupation data from death certificates and the history of coding these dat...

BACKGROUND The occurrence of occupational lung diseases is decreasing due to improvements in occupational health in recent years; however, silicosis and its complications remain important occupational health problems. We have studied the role of emphysema and bullae as predictive factors of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax in acute and accelerated silicosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study...

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) continues to be one of the most prevalent occupational conditions and occurs across a wide spectrum of industries. Occupational hearing loss is preventable through a hierarchy of controls, which prioritize the use of engineering controls over administrative controls and personal protective equipment. The occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) physician w...

A founder of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy, Thomas Bessell Kidner (1866-1932) played a prominent role in the early development of occupational therapy in Canada and the United States. We describe Kidner's early life and how his work using occupations evolved. We then examine ideas and assumptions about occupations as treatment and trace Kidner's involvement thro...

OBJECTIVES Exposure and clinical data concerning cases of toxic convulsions and hypoglycemia due to tetramethyl succinonitrile (TMSN) exposure are reported. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty-four workers exposed to TMSN in the PVC production plant participated in occupational health medical check-ups including medical history, clinical examination and clinical chemistry. A 4-year follow-up was perfo...

Occupational asthma is the most common form of occupational lung disease in the developed world at the present time. In this review, the epidemiology, pathogenesis/mechanisms, clinical presentations, management, and prevention of occupational asthma are discussed. The population attributable risk of asthma due to occupational exposures is considerable. Current understanding of the mechanisms by...