The Prognostic Value of the Work Ability Index for Sickness Absence among Office Workers

Aim: This study assesses the predictive ability of the full Work Ability Index (WAI) as well as its individual items in the general population. Methods: The Work, Health and Retirement Study (WHRS) is a stratified random national sample of 25–75-year-olds living in Sweden in 2000 that received a postal questionnaire ( n = 6637, response rate = 53%). Current and subsequent sickness absence was obtained from registers. The ability of the WAI to predict long-term sickness absence (LTSA; ⩾ 90 consecutive days) during a period of four years was analysed by logistic regression, from which the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC) was computed. Results: There were 313 incident LTSA cases among 1786 employed individuals. The full WAI had acceptable ability to predict LTSA during the 4-year follow-up (AUC = 0.79; 95% CI 0.76 to 0.82). Individual items were less stable in their predictive ability. However, three of the individual items: current work ability compared with lifetime best, estimated work impairment due to diseases, and number of diagnosed current diseases, exceeded AUC > 0.70. Excluding the WAI item on number of days on sickness absence did not result in an inferior predictive ability of the WAI. Conclusions: The full WAI has acceptable predictive validity, and is superior to its individual items. For public health surveys, three items may be suitable proxies of the full WAI; current work ability compared with lifetime best, estimated work impairment due to diseases, and number of current diseases diagnosed by a physician.

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HUBUNGAN KEMAMPUAN KERJA DAN ANGKA MANGKIR KERJA KARYAWAN HOTEL BINTANG TIGA BAGIAN HOUSEKEEPING DI DENPASAR

Jurnal Ergonomi Indonesia (The Indonesian Journal of Ergonomic) ◽

10.24843/jei.2016.v02.i01.p02 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Renaldi Prasetio ◽

Nyoman Adiputra

Keyword(s):

Sickness Absence ◽

Work Ability ◽

Work Absence ◽

Work Ability Index ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Hotel Employees ◽

Spearman Correlation Test ◽

Ability Index ◽

Good Workability

The work ability of employees and work absence is important in nowday's. These things need to be considered to achieve good service quality, especially the hotel employees at housekeeping department. Employees task at housekeeping department is very important, especially for the comfort and cleanliness of the hotel. The employees with good workability and low work absence will certainly improve the quality of service of the hotel. The purpose of the research was to find out the correlation between work ability and work absence among 3-star hotel employees at housekeeping department at Denpasar. This research was using a cross-sectional analytic study. The number of respondents were 31 people consisting of 3-star hotel employees at housekeeping department atDenpasar. The respondents were asked to fill Work Ability Index and mention work absence in the past year. Tables are used to show the results of the study and analyzed using the Spearman correlation test. The research showed that the average of work ability is 41.48, sickness absence and off work are 3.74 and 11.22. There was significant correlation between work ability andnumber of a sickness absence (p=0.006). While the work ability and number off work have no correlation (p=0.461). It can be concluded that work ability and sickness absence have a correlation but there was no correlation between work ability and off work among 3-star hotel employeesat housekeeping section. It may suggest to implementing regular training to improve employability in an effort to decrease sickness absence

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Decrease in Work Ability Index and sickness absence during the following year: a two-year follow-up study

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health ◽

10.1007/s00420-017-1251-x ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 90 (8) ◽

pp. 883-894 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Masanori Ohta ◽

Yoshiyuki Higuchi ◽

Masaharu Kumashiro ◽

Hiroshi Yamato ◽

Hisamichi Sugimura

Keyword(s):

Sickness Absence ◽

Work Ability ◽

Work Ability Index ◽

Follow Up Study ◽

Ability Index

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Prediction tools for sickness absenteeism

International Journal of Workplace Health Management ◽

10.1108/ijwhm-05-2014-0017 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 142-151

Author(s):

Georgios Merekoulias ◽

Evangelos C Alexopoulos

Keyword(s):

Sickness Absence ◽

Work Ability ◽

Health Personnel ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Categorical Variables ◽

Strongly Correlated ◽

Work Ability Index ◽

Sickness Absenteeism ◽

Content Type ◽

Ability Index

Purpose – Bradford formula (index) or factor (BF) was originally designed for use as part of the overall investigation and management of absenteeism. Work ability index (WAI) is an instrument that has been used to evaluate work ability. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate retrospectively, the properties of the WAI, the BF and their combination – the sickness absence probability factor – in predicting future sickness absence. Design/methodology/approach – Data on sickness absences of shipyard employees for the period 2002-2006 were utilized for the calculation of the relevant BFs. The Greek version of the WAI questionnaire was also used. The sickness absence probability factor was calculated by summing up the scores of the two other tools, after transforming them into categorical variables. Findings – Increased BF values are positively and strongly correlated to increased sickness absenteeism levels in the following years (p<0.001), especially for the immediate following years. WAI score is also strongly negatively correlated to absence. The combination of BF and WAI acted even better. Originality/value – The use of tools, like the BF and the suggested sickness probability factor, should be considered by occupational health personnel in order to act proactively on sickness absenteeism, since they were found to be related to future absenteeism. Actions should follow health and safety rules and ethics and should be undertaken by competent health personnel.

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Transtheoretical Model Is Better Predictor of Physiological Stress than Perceived Stress Scale and Work Ability Index among Office Workers

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17124410 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (12) ◽

pp. 4410

Author(s):

Maria Marin-Farrona ◽

Manuel Leon-Jimenez ◽

Jorge Garcia-Unanue ◽

Leonor Gallardo ◽

Carmen Crespo-Ruiz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Perceived Stress ◽

Transtheoretical Model ◽

Work Ability ◽

Physiological Stress ◽

Office Workers ◽

Work Ability Index ◽

Perceived Stress Scale ◽

Stress Scale ◽

Stress Levels ◽

Ability Index

Physical activity impacts positively on stress and anxiety. Working conditions affect the quality of life by increasing stress levels, which can affect job performance and work absence. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Work Ability Index (WAI), Transtheoretical Model (TTM), as well as heart rate variability (HRV) have been applied to monitor the state of workers in their job. The aim of this study was to analyze PSS, WAI, and TTM classifications, and to find out how are they linked to physiological stress (HRV). One hundred and thirteen office workers responded to the three questionnaires and their HRV was monitored for at least two full days. Groups were set up according to TTM (Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3–4, Stage 5), WAI (weak WAI, medium WAI, good WAI), and PSS (low PSS, medium PSS, high PSS). Results obtained from the test were related to stress values measured by HRV with a Bodyguard2 device. The Stage 5 group from TTM had better HVR and stress levels than the other groups for both women and men (p < 0.05). Participants in the good WAI group and low PSS group had better results than weak WAI and high PSS, but the differences with respect to medium WAI and medium PSS were less clear. Finally, TTM seemed to be the best tool to discriminate physiological stress in office workers with regard to other questionnaires.

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Shortened version of the work ability index to identify workers at risk of long-term sickness absence

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckv198 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 301-305 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Lianne S. Schouten ◽

Ute Bültmann ◽

Martijn W. Heymans ◽

Catelijne I. Joling ◽

Jos W. R. Twisk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Sickness Absence ◽

Work Ability ◽

Work Ability Index ◽

Ability Index

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The Impact of Metal Age® Training Programme on the Well-Being of Latvian Office Workers

Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences Section B Natural Exact and Applied Sciences ◽

10.1515/prolas-2016-0048 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 70 (5) ◽

pp. 315-324

Author(s):

Dagmāra Sprūdža ◽

Lāsma Kozlova ◽

Svetlana Lakiša ◽

Inese Mārtiņsone ◽

Ivars Vanadziņš ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Work Ability ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Well Being ◽

Training Programme ◽

Office Workers ◽

Psychological Violence ◽

Work Ability Index ◽

Ability Index ◽

The Impact ◽

Metal Age

Abstract There are many factors that affect the well-being and health of employees and the productivity of organisations. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the Metal Age training programme (MA®) on the well-being of office workers, including investigation of work ability, the stress-causing factors and role of leadership. The study was carried out using questions from four international questionnaires about stress, leadership, and work ability. The intervention group had a training course between the surveys using the ME® method. Several employee stress-causing factors were identified: bad relationship with their workmates was mentioned by 94% of workers; competitive and strenuous atmosphere — by more than 80%; psychological violence or bullying at the workplace by more than 80%, and more than 75% of employee’s could not relax after work. Wellness and microclimate in the workplaces were on a relatively high level: the average rating of seven Kiva questions was 7.5. The respondent attitude after ME® did not change significantly. Latvian office workers displayed moderate and good work ability (Work Ability Index, WAI 34.5–38.6). The best work ability was shown in the age group from 20 to 49 (WAI 34.8–39.4); work ability decreased with age. The best correlation was observed between Work Ability Index and “get into situations, that invoke negative feelings” (r = 0.26) and “carrying out ongoing tasks because of other intervening or more urgent matters” (r = −0.24). After ME® the reaction to some stress-causing factors was improved.

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