Factors Affecting Postural Awareness in Academics

The Postural Awareness Scale (PAS) was designed by Cramer et al. 1 to measure self-reported awareness of body posture, and translated to Turkish version by Dursun et al.. The PAS consist of 12 items in original form but 12th item was removed from the Turkish version due to factor load was low. The PAS consist of two factor structures, ease/familiarity with postural awareness (items 6-11) and need for attention regulation with postural awareness (items 1-5). The Turkish version of PAS scores range from 11 to 77, higher scores indicate high greater postural awareness. The total score was calculated after reversing the values of items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and adding other items.

The Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) was developed by Brown and Ryan 3 and translated to Turkish version by Özyeşil et al. The MAAS contains 15 items to measure individual differences in the tendency to be mindful. All the items are scored range from 1 (almost never) to 6 (almost always) points. The MAAS total scores can range from 1 to 6 points due to based on a mean (average) of the 15 items. Higher scores indicate a higher level of mindfulness.

The Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS) was developed by Chalder et al. 5 and translated to Turkish version by Adın et al. The CFS measures the severity of perceived fatigue and chronicity of fatigue. The CFS consist of 11 items, and which consist of two dimensions, including physical (CFS-PF) and mental fatigue (CFS-MF). The total score ranges from 0 to 33 points. Higher scores indicates a high level of fatigue.

The New York Posture Rating (NYPR) Scale was used to assess postural alignment changes for clinical postural evaluation in 13 body aligment segment. Lateral and posterior posture analysis is performed in 13 regions (head, neck, shoulder, scapula, upper thoracic, waist, rips, abdomen, hips, knees, legs, feet and toes). Every region was scored 1 (pronounced deviation), 3 (slight deviation) or 5 (correct posture) points. Total score is between 13-65 points. Higher scores indicates better the postural alignment.