[Evaluation of Japanese school lunch cooks' work by foreign researchers: an attempt to promote an effective discussion by presenting a video tape record].

The aim of this study was to collect and examine foreign researchers' evaluations of Japanese school lunch cooks' workload, risk of musculoskeletal disorders, and some related issues by means of video tape discussion method at international conferences. The author reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders of Japanese school lunch cooks' at three international conferences. Together with the presentation a video tape recorded at one school kitchen during working hours was shown and the participants at the conferences were asked to evaluate the workload and risks of the Japanese school lunch cooks in the form of a questionnaire. Out of 151 participants from 21 countries at three conferences, 86 participants from 18 countries answered the questionnaire. The median of the values for Japanese school cooks' workload, derived by the Visual Analogue Scale method ranging from 0 (easy) to 10 (severe), was 8.5. Concerning the possibility of occurrence of musculoskeletal problems, 83% of the respondents pointed out that the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders was certain, and 17% of them estimated that it was probable. Out of 18 countries from which participants came from, 12 countries were serving meals at school, and school lunch cooks in these 12 countries had similar occupational problems to those in Japan, such as musculoskeletal disorders, skin disorders and injuries, etc. The participants also pointed out that Japanese school lunch cooks were exposed to various problems, i.e., excessive workloads for women, and too few replacements of manual work by machinery. On the other hand, the cleanliness of the school kitchen, quality of meals, and conscientious cooking work were evaluated as very high. There were 36 researchers who asked for a copy of the video tape in order to use it in the education of industrial health personnel, medical students, and so on. These results showed the same tendency as Japanese researchers have found over the past 16 years. The video tape discussion method is proved to be useful in deepening mutual understanding at international conferences.