Generic work capacity assessment tool for working conditions in India: Preliminary results of development and standardization

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The work capacity assessment (WCA) tool is a new tool developed specifically to assess worker suitability for working conditions in India. This study presents the preliminary results of reliability (interrater) and internal consistency of the WCA tool. AIMS: The aim of this study is to develop a work capacity tool for working conditions in India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The steps for instrument development were followed stringently. The newly developed tool addressed three categories of work: heavy manual labor, sustained labor, and sedentary work. Four participants in heavy manual labor, five in sustained labor, and five in sedentary work performed activities specified by the new scale; videography was done simultaneously. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Internal consistency between the items in the scale was ascertained by Cronbach's alpha. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated for intertester reliability. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Some items in each of the three categories were removed from the final tool due to lack of variance between participants. After omitting these items, alpha was 0.65 and 1 in heavy manual labor, 0.95 and −0.14 in sustained labor, and 0.83 in sedentary work. All test items with the exception of isometric strength and posture sustainability in heavy manual labor correlated well with other items (>0.7). The final tool is fairly robust in terms of internal consistency and reliability. This is a preliminary report, and the tool needs to be further validated before clinical use on a larger and heterogeneous population.