• DocumentCode
    2267951
  • Title

    Placebos, back belts, and Hawthorne effect

  • Author

    Metzgar, Carl R.

  • Author_Institution
    Vulcan Mater. Co., Winston-Salem, NC, USA
  • fYear
    1994
  • fDate
    29 May-2 Jun 1994
  • Firstpage
    439
  • Lastpage
    456
  • Abstract
    The use of soft back belts in industry and retailing to help prevent and thus control the costs of back injuries has accelerated over the past three years. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the claimed positive results from using back belts, if any, can be explained by factors other than the physical effects of the belt. It is suggested that the placebo effect and/or the Hawthorne effect are a more likely explanation for the claimed positive results than any physical benefits of belt use
  • Keywords
    orthotics; Hawthorne effect; back injuries costs control; back injuries prevention; placebo effect; soft back belts; Acceleration; Belts; Costs; Health and safety; Industrial control; Injuries;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • Conference_Titel
    Cement Industry Technical Conference, 1994. XXXVI Conference Record., 36th IEEE
  • Conference_Location
    Seattle, WA
  • ISSN
    1079-9931
  • Print_ISBN
    0-7803-1766-1
  • Type

    conf

  • DOI
    10.1109/CITCON.1994.343421
  • Filename
    343421