Inter-Rater Reliability of Ergonomic Work Demands for Childcare Workers Using the Observation Instrument TRACK

Malene Jagd Svendsen; Peter Fjeldstad Hendriksen; Kathrine Greby Schmidt; Mette Jensen Stochkendahl; Charlotte Nørregaard Rasmussen; Andreas Holtermann

doi:10.3390/ijerph17051607

Inter-Rater Reliability of Ergonomic Work Demands for Childcare Workers Using the Observation Instrument TRACK

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 2;17(5):1607. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17051607.

Authors

Malene Jagd Svendsen^{1

2}, Peter Fjeldstad Hendriksen¹, Kathrine Greby Schmidt¹, Mette Jensen Stochkendahl^{2

3}, Charlotte Nørregaard Rasmussen¹, Andreas Holtermann¹

Affiliations

¹ Musculoskeletal Disorders and Physical Work Demands, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
² Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark.
³ Nordic Institute of Chiropractic and Clinical Biomechanics, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of a newly developed instrument-TRACK (observaTion woRk demAnds Childcare worK) for observations of ergonomic work demands in childcare work. Two trained raters conducted thirty hours of concurrent observation of fifteen childcare workers in three different day nurseries. Inter-rater reliability of ergonomic work demands was evaluated using Gwet's Agreement Coefficient (AC₁) and interpreted by the Landis and Koch benchmark scale. Twenty ergonomic work demand items were evaluated. Inter-rater reliability was 'almost perfect' for nine items (AC₁ 0.81-1.00), 'substantial' for four items (AC₁ 0.61-0.80), 'moderate' for four items (AC₁ 0.41-0.60), 'fair' for two items (AC₁ 0.21-0.40), and 'slight' (AC₁ 0.00-0.20) for one item. No items had 'poor' (AC₁ < 0.00) agreement. The instrument is reliable for assessing ergonomic work demands in childcare in real-life settings.

Keywords: ergonomics; inter-rater reliability; observation; work demands.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Caregivers / statistics & numerical data
Child
Child Care*
Ergonomics
Evaluation Studies as Topic*
Humans
Reproducibility of Results