. Ethics approval
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty
of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University. An explanation of the
study was given to all participants and formal signed consents were
obtained before any data were collected.
2.2. Study setting
Due to the difficulty of data collection by video recording of the
rubber tapping posture that is usually performed during the night,
the study setting was selected based on the feasibility to access the
data. Data collection took place in 23 villages of 3 sub-districts of
Sawi District, Chumphon Province, Thailand from October 2008 to
February 2009, when the work was steady.
2.3. Study design
A cross-sectional survey was conducted using face-to-face
interviews, direct observation of the rubber tapping work and
a video-based analysis of the working postures using the Rapid
Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method.