Validation of a Questionnaire for Assessing Physical Work Load

• Published in: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment ＆ Health Environment ＆ Health, 1999-04, Vol.25 (2), p.105-114
• Main Authors: Hollmann, Sven, Klimmer, Felix, Schmidt, Klaus-Helmut, Kylian, Hannegret
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Arm; Back Injuries - diagnosis; Back Injuries - epidemiology; Back Injuries - etiology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomechanical Phenomena; Body regions; Discriminant Analysis; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Diseases of the spine; Employee complaints; Epidemiologic Methods; Female; Health Personnel; Humans; Job satisfaction; Longitudinal Studies; Low Back Pain - diagnosis; Low Back Pain - epidemiology; Low Back Pain - etiology; Male; Manual labor; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nursing Homes; Occupational Diseases - diagnosis; Occupational Diseases - epidemiology; Occupational Diseases - etiology; Posture; Psychosomatics; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Self efficacy; Socioeconomic Factors; Statistics, Nonparametric; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Workload; Workloads
• ISSN: 0355-3140; 1795-990X
• DOI: 10.5271/sjweh.412

Objectives Reliable, valid, and compatible methods are required for exploring the complex interactive effects of psychosocial and physical Stressors on complaints and disorders. An instrument for assessing physical work load that integrates information from a biomechanical model of lumbar load is presented and validated. Methods Four hundred and fifty-five people working in nursing homes for elderly people in Germany filled out the developed questionnaire 3 times within 1 year. Test-retest reliability was calculated, and validity was checked several times. Relationships with other, theoretically related and unrelated variables were examined. Results The test-retest reliability of the questionnaire measures was about 0.65. The convergent and discriminant validity was satisfactory, and the questionnaire was able to separate professional subgroups with different physical work loads. The Spearman rank-order correlations between physical load and musculoskeletal complaints were about 0.30. Conclusions The method developed in this study is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing physical work load. The integration of statistical methods from psychological testing and theory in the development of methods exploring the effects of physical work load is advocated.