ERGONOMICS OF PRESCHOOL CLOTHING: AN ANALYSIS OF STAKEHOLDER CONCERNS AND DEMAND FOR WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY
Öz
This study aims to identify ergonomic risks, safety hazards, and functional incompatibilities arising from children's clothing in preschool settings, as well as reveal stakeholder demand for wearable technology that could solve these problems. Stakeholders include parents and educational staff. The study employed an exploratory, sequential, mixed-methods design. Themes identified in the first phase, through a case study, were tested in the second phase, via a survey administered to 126 parents and 22 educational staff members. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, and Chi-Square tests were used for data analysis.
The findings show that educational staff are more concerned than parents about health and safety risks requiring immediate intervention, such as "bedwetting," "falling," and "fever." The study determined that ergonomically enhanced clothing supported by wearable technology are important in alleviating these concerns, and both groups have a high demand for such clothing. Consequently, stakeholders perceive current clothing as inadequate for children in the dynamic school environment in terms of health and safety. There is a clear need for proactive monitoring systems that would reduce the workload of educational staff.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Ergonomics, Preschool clothing, Functional, Wearable technology
Etik Beyan
Ethical approval for this research was obtained from the Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University Ethics Commission (Date:16.02.2023, Decision No:165138)
Teşekkür
This study is based on an excerpt from the doctoral thesis titled “Technology-Supported Clothing Designs for Monitoring Children in Preschool Education” from Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University / Graduate School of Education.
Kaynakça
- ASHB. (2016). Özel Kreş ve Gündüz Bakımevleri İle Özel Çocuk Kulüplerinin Kuruluş ve İşleyiş Esasları Hakkında Yönetmelik. T.C. Aile ve Sosyal Hizmetler Bakanlığı. https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=21542veMevzuatTur=7veMevzuatTertip=5
- Baizhanova, Z., Madiyeva, M. (2024). Analysis of Accessible School Uniforms For Children With Special Needs. Problems of Engineering and Professional Education, (74), 75-85.
- Bezerra, G., Carvalho, M. A., Rocha, M. A. V., Xu, B. (2017). Anthropometry for Children's Clothing: Difficulties and Limitations. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 254(17), 172001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/254/17/172001
- Bhandari, S. (2021). Design and Develop A Range of Clothing for Infants. NeuroQuantology, 19(2), 208–217. https://doi.org/10.48047/nq.2021.19.2.NQ21037
- Brickman, D. B. (2001). Children's Outerwear Drawstrings and Sliding Board Safety Analysis. Safety Brief, 19(3), 1-6.
- Bülbül, Z., Kuşçuoğlu, M. Ö., Sofuoğlu, S. D., Erdinler, E. S. (2018). Hazards in Kids Furniture. Technological Applied Sciences, 13(2), 191-198.
- Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2024). Sosyal Bilimler İçin Veri Analizi El Kitabı: İstatistik, Araştırma Deseni, SPSS uygulamaları ve yorum (31. baskı). Pegem Akademi.
- Creswell, J. W., Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
- Çağdaş, M., Bor, A. (2010, Aralık 3-5). Menopoz Dönemine Girmiş Kadınlar İçin Ergonomik Pantolon Kalıbı Hazırlama. 16. Ulusal Ergonomi Kongresi, Çorum, Türkiye.
- Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.2307/249008