Validity of a self-administered questionnaire for assessing physical work loads in a general population.
The aim of the study was to evaluate eight questions concerning physical loads, used in public health questionnaires. Working women and men (203) completed a self-administered questionnaire twice, following a test-retest method. The questions were also validated with a structured interview. Response agreement was calculated with Cohen's kappa statistics with quadratic weights (kappa w). Test-retest agreement varied from 0.74 to 0.92, and inter-method agreement from 0.38 to 0.81. The lowest coefficients were for the questions concerning bent/twisted work postures (kappa w 0.38) and repetitive movements (kappa w 0.39). The results did not indicate any substantial influence of gender, type of work or musculoskeletal complaint. The questions concerning general physical activity and sitting work postures, and physical exercise/sports during leisure times, had good validity. The questions concerning bent/twisted work posture and repetitive movements need to be re-designed.
Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Occupational Medicine, Karolinska, Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. ola.leijon@smd.sll.se
Ola
O
Leijon
Christina
C
Wiktorin
Annika
A
Härenstam
Lena
L
Karlqvist
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011187:Posture; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D013997:Time Factors; D014937:Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017132:Workplace