Inter-rater reliability of direct observations of the physical and psychosocial working conditions in eldercare: An evaluation in the DOSES project. (May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Karstad, Kristina; Rugulies, Reiner; Skotte, Jørgen; Munch, Pernille Kold; Greiner, Birgit A.; Burdorf, Alex; Søgaard, Karen; Holtermann, Andreas
• Is Part Of: Applied ergonomics. Volume 69(2018)
• Page Start: 93
• Page End: 103
• Publication Date: 2018-05
• Subjects: Nursing home -- Healthcare -- Patient handling activities; Human engineering -- Periodicals; 620.82
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2018.01.004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-6870

Abstract

Abstract: The aim of the study was to develop and evaluate the reliability of the "Danish observational study of eldercare work and musculoskeletal disorders" (DOSES) observation instrument to assess physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in eldercare work. During 1.5 years, sixteen raters conducted 117 inter-rater observations from 11 nursing homes. Reliability was evaluated using percent agreement and Gwet's AC1 coefficient. Of the 18 examined items, inter-rater reliability was excellent for 7 items (AC1>0.75) fair to good for 7 items (AC1 0.40–0.75) and poor for 2 items (AC1 0–0.40). For 2 items there was no agreement between the raters (AC1 <0). The reliability did not differ between the first and second half of the data collection period and the inter-rater observations were representative regarding occurrence of events in eldercare work. The instrument is appropriate for assessing physical and psychosocial risk factors for MSD among eldercare workers. Highlights: The instrument assesses physical and psychosocial risk factors for MSD in elder care. Instrument is based on direct observations of caring activities in nursing homes. Inter-rater agreement showed satisfactory reliability of the instrument. Feasible for data collections with many observers or long data collection periods. Observations were representative regarding occurrence of events in eldercare work.