Ascertainment of occupational histories in the working population: the occupational history calendar approach.
BACKGROUND
self-reported occupational histories are an important means for collecting historical data in epidemiological studies. An occupational history calendar (OHC) has been developed for use alongside a national occupational hazard surveillance tool. This study presents the systematic development of the OHC and compares work histories collected via this calendar to those collected via a traditional questionnaire.


METHODS
the paper describes the systematic development of an OHC for use in the general working population. A comparison of data quality and recall was undertaken in 51 participants where both tools were administered.


RESULTS
the OHC enhanced job recall compared with the traditional questionnaire. Good agreement in the data captured by both tools was observed, with the exception of hazard exposures.


CONCLUSIONS
a calendar approach is suitable for collecting occupational histories from the general working population. Despite enhancing job recall the OHC approach has some shortcomings outweighing this advantage in large-scale population surveillance.
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. rebbecca.lilley@ipru.otago.ac.nz
R C
RC
Lilley
P C
PC
Cryer
H M
HM
Firth
G P
GP
Herbison
A-M
AM
Feyer
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult