Frequency of Application of Mental Workload Measuring Instruments in Recent Publications in Brazil

Abstract

Mental workload is crucial factor when analysing cognitive and physical aspects of the job. Thus, instruments that allow the measurement of mental workload become possible a better ergonomic work analysis. This research aims to identify the use of instruments to measure mental workload in articles recently published in Brazilian journals. It's an article of literature review, focusing the national production of articles in the last five years that deal with mental workload and its measurement. Research carried out at CAPES portal of periodic, using as search term mental workload, stating in the subject. Were considered only articles of the past 5 years, published in national journals, which have had some type of mental workload scale, by analysing the abstracts. Twenty-five references were found, only two of these articles using NASA-TLX as a tool for measuring mental workload. There‘s a predominance of use of instruments that detect mental distress (e.g., the diagnosis of burnout); instruments that assess quality of life, or the scale of psychosocial risk factors at work. Thus, it comes to diagnoses work-related psychopathology or sizing risk of illness at work. The production of knowledge tends to focus on the consequences generated by an inefficient practice or organization of work. However, the practice of ergonomic analysis of work comprising the measurement of mental workload is rarely seen in recent national publications.