1.1 Background and Motivation
 

Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS) or RSI¹ is a term familiar to most computer users.  After an OOS epidemic swept through Australia in the early 1980's, it became clear that OOS was not a rare disorder - but a widespread, debilitating and costly disease. For a disease that is reputedly borne by so many, OOS is still widely misunderstood. There are some manufacturers of computer equipment who claim that their equipment prevents OOS and there are employers who claim that OOS is all in the mind of their staff. Contrastingly, there are those who believe that OOS is a true medical condition, there are those who claim that prevention of OOS takes more than just ergonomic equiptment and there are those who take active measures to prevent it.

In order to understand OOS, we must first delve into its history and definition. With an understanding of the fundamentals of OOS we can begin to separate the myths concerning OOS from the facts. We can begin to appreciate the present acceptance (or lack of acceptance) of the disease. We can begin to form an opinion on the true state of OOS. But to gain a more rounded appreciation of OOS, we need to dig deeper. We need to examine how widespread the disease is; what people are doing to prevent it; and most importantly - the costs, both human and financial, brought out by OOS.

Finally, we must not forget that the literature will only present certain faces of OOS, many of which may only pertain to other countries. Because we are part of the New Zealand Information Technology (IT) industry, we need to also examine OOS in the New Zealand context.

1.2 Objects of the Dissertation

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From the above discussion four main objectives for the dissertation have been drawn:

1.	To provide a history and definition of OOS in computing; as well as examining its  acceptance in the IT industry (this forms Chapter 2 of this work).
2.	To look at the current understanding of OOS, with particular reference to the incidence of OOS, the causes of OOS and the measures used for preventing OOS (this forms Chapter 3 of this work).
3.	To examine the costs OOS inflicts on both the individual and the business, as well as the  costs and benefits the business incurs in taking measures to prevent OOS (this forms  Chapter 4 of this work).²
4.	To carry out a survey of the New Zealand IT industry, aimed at discovering the current  perception of OOS in New Zealand. In particular, the survey sought to discover what IT  organisations are doing to prevent OOS; the costs organisations incur in preventing OOS; and the incidence of OOS in New Zealand.  The knowledge gained in parts one, two and three was used as a basis for the questions in the survey component (the structure of the survey, and the analysis of the results are found in Chapters 5 and 6 respectfully).

1.3 Structure of the Dissertation
 

This disseratation begins with an overview of OOS today, including its definition, history, symptoms, physiological causes, incidence and acceptance (this forms Chapter 2).  Then following chapter (Chapter 3) investigates and details the various factors in the workplace that can cause OOS, and what measures are being used to prevent it. The final part of the literature review (Chapter 4) examines the costs of OOS to both the employee and the employer, and the costs and benifits of its prevention. In order to examine the state of OOS in New Zealand, and compare it with the literature, a survey was carried out on New Zealand's IT industry. Chapters 5 and 6 detail the methodology and the results of this survey respectfully. The final chapter (Chapter 7) concludes the dissertation with a concise synosis of its findings, and a listing of avenues of future research. To facilitate understanding of the various acronyms used in this dissertation, a glossary has been included on page 55.

¹ RSI is an acronym for Repetitive Strain Injury, and is another name for OOS. ² Note that objectives one, two and three formed the literature review. The literature review drew from a wide variety of sources (including journals, the Internet, newspapers and New Zealand Government publications) and many disciplines (including medicine, IT, psychology and ergonomics).