FH-Prof. Aff. Hon. Asst. Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schwartz BSc MSc

In Austria, as in many other countries, the older population continues to grow. Often elderly people prefer staying in their own homes for as long as they can, and only move into a nursing home at a later stage in their lives or only if need be. However, to respond to this important and understandable request for independence, family members and informal caregivers have to take on challenging responsibilities. Our project aims to support these individuals in home care for elderly people.

Worksite based prolonged static sitting postures can cause musculoskeletal pain. While the development of pain increases due to the constant growth of digitalization at work, numerous interventions to reduce prolonged sitting periods have been created. The effects of such interventions have not yet been properly examined. Thus, the "DynSit-Pain" project was initiated to investigate the influence of dynamic sitting on the pain development of pain developers in office environments.

Even though increasing digitalisation reduces handwriting activities, the intensive use of a handwriting tool can lead to problems in the hand or finger areas. Since these problems are often induced by too much pressure and excessive forces during the handwriting process, an ideal design shall help in reducing them. Such an innovative design will be investigated in a cooperative study with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

With age, the performance and independence of people decrease. This is often further increased by illnesses and injuries. In addition to movement restrictions and problems in carrying out activities of daily life, there is a reduction of participation in social life and consequently in the quality of life.

HLS-EU study shows comparatively less health literacy for Austria and points to the extraordinary challenge for the Austrian population to find their way around the healthcare. In order to avoid wrong ways in the health care of patients and to protect from waiting times, the project “Der gelungene Patientenkontakt” started in October 2018.

Early detection of language development disorders and a timely delivery of appropriate measures derived therefrom can prevent the secondary consequences of language learning disorders. In particular, phonologically delayed disorders, can have an impact on the development of literacy and placing the child at risk for dyslexia. Due to the high demand for speech therapy, however, many children wait up to 4 months before therapy can be started.

Within the last decades, there has been a significant increase in sitting time. As long periods of daily sitting, especially in long bouts (e.g. more than 45 minutes), are linked to numerous diseases, which cannot be fully compensated by physical activity, various initiatives have been started to reduce sitting time in daily life.

The aim of stroke rehabilitation is to significantly increase the patient’s quality of life. In addition to traditional therapy, the use of more widespread consumer electronics (e.g. smart phones, tablets, gesture-controlled devices or virtual reality devices) can help to support the rehabilitation.

The prevalence of work-related physical stress in primary school teachers worldwide depending on the region ranges from 32% to 67%. The three most affected regions of the body are the neck (39% to 69%), the lower back (38% to 48%) and the shoulders (28% to 73%)(Moom et al., 2015; Karakaya et al., 2015; Yue et al., 2012; Korkmaz et al., 2011; Chong and Chan, 2010; Nurul et al., 2010; Cardoso et al., 2009).