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velopment of the school furniture suitability questionnaire (SFS-Q)
Nastja Podrekar Loredan 1,2, Sølvi Therese Strømmen Wie 4, Kaja Kastelic 1,3, Michael Burnard 1,3
1. InnoRenew COE, Livade 6, 6310 Izola, Slovenia, nastja.podrekar@innorenew.eu
2. Univerza na Primorskem, Fakulteta za vede o zdravju, Polje 41, 6310 Izola, Slovenia
3. Univerza na Primorskem, Andrej Marušič Institute, Muzejski trg 2, 6000 Koper, Slovenia, mike.burnard@innorenew.eu
4. Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O. Box 5003,
NO-1432 Ås, Norway, solvi.wie@nmbu.no
Suitable school furniture is important to ensure students maintain proper posture, diminish risks for
musculoskeletal discomfort and pain, and promote students’well-being in the classroom. When assessing
the suitability of school furniture, characteristics like a student’s posture and dimensional compatibility
can be measured objectively. However, students’ feeling of discomfort and their satisfaction with the
furniture when performing school tasks, can only be assessed subjectively. This study aimed to develop
a questionnaire to assess perceived school furniture suitability. The questionnaire was developed in
English and consists of three parts. In the first part, questions related to numbness and/or pain in nine
body regions (neck, shoulders, upper back, elbows, wrists, lower back, buttocks, knees, and ankles)
are included on the eleven-point pain numbered rating scale (NRS-11), which has been recommended
for acute pain assessment in children and adolescents (Birnie et al., 2019). The second part of the
questionnaire asks about comfort when performing school tasks, such as writing, reading, and listening,
on a seven-point rating scale. The third part of the questionnaire asks about satisfaction with tabletop
materials, with the overall aesthetic appearance of the school furniture, and with the position of the
school furniture in the classroom, on a seven-point rating scale. The last two open-ended questions
ask about positive and negative perceived features of the furniture. The questionnaire will be available
in online and paper versions. To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first questionnaire that will
comprehensively assess the suitability of school furniture, including information on students’ pain,
comfort while performing school-related tasks, material suitability, and aesthetics of the furniture. Future
studies are planned to assess the validity and reliability of the questionnaire.
Keywords: ergonomics, chair, classroom, desk, students, subjective assessment
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project
(grant agreement #739574) under the Horizon2020 Widespread-2-Teaming program and the Republic
of Slovenia (investment funding from the Republic of Slovenia and the European Regional Development
Fund).
References
Birnie, K.A., Hundert, A.S., Lalloo, C., Nguyen, C., Stinson, J.N., 2019. Recommendations for selection of self-report pain
intensity measures in children and adolescents: A systematic review and quality assessment of measurement
properties. Pain. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001377
INNORENEW COE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2021
26
Nastja Podrekar Loredan 1,2, Sølvi Therese Strømmen Wie 4, Kaja Kastelic 1,3, Michael Burnard 1,3
1. InnoRenew COE, Livade 6, 6310 Izola, Slovenia, nastja.podrekar@innorenew.eu
2. Univerza na Primorskem, Fakulteta za vede o zdravju, Polje 41, 6310 Izola, Slovenia
3. Univerza na Primorskem, Andrej Marušič Institute, Muzejski trg 2, 6000 Koper, Slovenia, mike.burnard@innorenew.eu
4. Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O. Box 5003,
NO-1432 Ås, Norway, solvi.wie@nmbu.no
Suitable school furniture is important to ensure students maintain proper posture, diminish risks for
musculoskeletal discomfort and pain, and promote students’well-being in the classroom. When assessing
the suitability of school furniture, characteristics like a student’s posture and dimensional compatibility
can be measured objectively. However, students’ feeling of discomfort and their satisfaction with the
furniture when performing school tasks, can only be assessed subjectively. This study aimed to develop
a questionnaire to assess perceived school furniture suitability. The questionnaire was developed in
English and consists of three parts. In the first part, questions related to numbness and/or pain in nine
body regions (neck, shoulders, upper back, elbows, wrists, lower back, buttocks, knees, and ankles)
are included on the eleven-point pain numbered rating scale (NRS-11), which has been recommended
for acute pain assessment in children and adolescents (Birnie et al., 2019). The second part of the
questionnaire asks about comfort when performing school tasks, such as writing, reading, and listening,
on a seven-point rating scale. The third part of the questionnaire asks about satisfaction with tabletop
materials, with the overall aesthetic appearance of the school furniture, and with the position of the
school furniture in the classroom, on a seven-point rating scale. The last two open-ended questions
ask about positive and negative perceived features of the furniture. The questionnaire will be available
in online and paper versions. To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first questionnaire that will
comprehensively assess the suitability of school furniture, including information on students’ pain,
comfort while performing school-related tasks, material suitability, and aesthetics of the furniture. Future
studies are planned to assess the validity and reliability of the questionnaire.
Keywords: ergonomics, chair, classroom, desk, students, subjective assessment
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project
(grant agreement #739574) under the Horizon2020 Widespread-2-Teaming program and the Republic
of Slovenia (investment funding from the Republic of Slovenia and the European Regional Development
Fund).
References
Birnie, K.A., Hundert, A.S., Lalloo, C., Nguyen, C., Stinson, J.N., 2019. Recommendations for selection of self-report pain
intensity measures in children and adolescents: A systematic review and quality assessment of measurement
properties. Pain. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001377
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