The influence of human resource management practices on occupational health and safety in the manufacturing industry

This study provides an overview of the influence of applying two human resource management (HRM) practices on workers' occupational health and safety (OHS). These practices are selection and recruitment, and development and training. Furthermore, this study highlights the observed activities to define hazards, processes and OHS measures in the manufacturing industries. It also assesses the importance of workers' knowledge and awareness of OHS programs. A structured questionnaire was administered to those working in the manufacturing sector in several countries. The responses were analyzed statistically. The results showed that the demographic variables had a significant impact on workers' knowledge and awareness of OHS programs. In addition, HRM practices played a major role in OHS. Therefore, it is recommended to top management to highly consider OHS practices by integrating them into the workplace, starting from worker selection, all the way to production, operations and management, by establishing a strong HRM system.

Prevalence of diabetes distress and cross-cultural reliability of DDS-17 scale in rural Haryana

Background

Diabetes distress associated with diabetes is an important under-appreciated domain of diabetes management. The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of diabetes distress among T2DM patients in Jhajjar district of Haryana, using widely accepted DDS-17 scale along with testing the scale's reliability through Cronbach's α.

Material and Methods

This observational study with cross-sectional design was carried out among 503 T2DM patients in district, Jhajjar, Haryana. DDS-17 scale was used for diabetes distress assessment. Data entry and analysis were performed using appropriate software.

Results

37.97% subjects had diabetes distress either in moderate (DDS-17 Score ≥2) or severe (DDS-17 Score ≥3) form. English version of DDS-17 scale showed good internal consistency reliability (α = 0.79).

Conclusions

This study conclusively showed that diabetes distress is very common among T2DM patients as more than one third of the T2DM patients had diabetes distress and diabetes distress scale (DDS-17) is an easy, well-accepted questionnaire with good reliability.

High inter-rater reliability of Japanese bedriddenness ranks and cognitive function scores: a hospital-based prospective observational study

BACKGROUND

The statistical validities of the official Japanese classifications of activities of daily living (ADLs), including bedriddenness ranks (BR) and cognitive function scores (CFS), have yet to be assessed. To this aim, we evaluated the ability of BR and CFS to assess ADLs using inter-rater reliability and criterion-related validity.

METHODS

New inpatients aged ≥75 years were enrolled in this hospital-based prospective observational study. BR and CFS were assessed once by an attending nurse, and then by a social worker/medical clerk. We evaluated inter-rater reliability between different professions by calculating the concordance rate, kappa coefficient, Cronbach's α, and intraclass correlation coefficient. We also estimated the relationship of the Barthel Index and Katz Index with the BR and CFS using Spearman's correlation coefficients.

RESULTS

For the 271 patients enrolled, BR at the first assessment revealed 66 normal, 10 of J1, 15 of J2, 18 of A1, 31 of A2, 37 of B1, 35 of B2, 22 of C1, and 32 of C2. The concordance rate between the two BR assessments was 68.6%, with a kappa coefficient of 0.61, Cronbach's α of 0.91, and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.83, thus showing good inter-rater reliability. BR was negatively correlated with the Barthel Index (r = - 0.848, p < 0.001) and Katz Index (r = - 0.820, p < 0.001), showing justifiable criterion-related validity. Meanwhile, CFS at the first assessment revealed 92 normal, 47 of 1, 19 of 2a, 30 of 2b, 60 of 3a, 8 of 3b, 8 of 4, and 0 of M. The concordance rate between the two CFS assessments was 70.1%, with a kappa coefficient of 0.62, Cronbach's α of 0.87, and an intraclass correlation coefficient 0.78, thus also showing good inter-rater reliability. CFS was negatively correlated with the Barthel Index (r = - 0.667, p < 0.001) and Katz Index (r = - 0.661, p < 0.001), showing justifiable criterion-related validity.

CONCLUSIONS

BR and CFS could be reliable and easy-to-use grading scales of ADLs in acute clinical practice or large-scale screening, with high inter-rater reliabilities among different professions and significant correlations with well-established, though complicated to use, instruments to assess ADLs.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

UMIN000041051 (2020/7/10).

Design and Validation of the Instrument for the Measurement of Learning and Performance in Football

The assessment of tactical-technical knowledge of football is essential to develop optimal and integral teaching processes for students. Therefore, the aim of this study was to design and validate an instrument so that teachers, coaches, and researchers can observe and codify both the tactical behaviors and technical skills performed by the students in the game of football. The design and validation of the instrument were carried out in four phases: a) review of the literature and previous instruments; b) design of the Instrument for the Measurement of Learning and Performance in Football (IMLPFoot). It assesses all the offensive and defensive play actions, with and without the ball, as well as their three components (decision-making, technical execution, and final result); c) sample selection of experts (N = 12); and d) quantitative (Likert-type scale from 1 to 10) and qualitative assessment of degree the pertinence, unambiguity, and importance of each of the 33 items included in the IMLPFoot. Aiken’s V coefficient was used to determine content validity. Likewise, internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach’s α coefficient. The results showed demanding levels of validity (V ≥ 0.77), internal consistency (α = 0.983), inter-rater, and intra-rater reliability. Therefore, it is a valid and reliable instrument that makes possible a complete assessment of football in physical education classes and/or in the sports context (out-of-school football).

Comparison of Ferguson's δ and the Gini coefficient used for measuring the inequality of data related to health quality of life outcomes

Background

Ferguson’s δ and Gini coefficient (GC) are defined as contrasting statistical measures of inequality among members within populations. However, the association and cutting points for these two statistics are still unclear; a visual display is required to inspect their similarities and differences.

Methods

A simulation study was conducted to illustrate the pertinent properties of these statistics, along with Cronbach’s α and dimension coefficient (DC) to assess inequality. We manipulated datasets containing four item lengths with two number combinations (0 and 33%) in item length if two domains exist. Each item difficulty with five-point polytomous responses was uniformly distributed across a ± 2 logit range. A simulated response questionnaire was designed along with known different structures of true person scores under Rasch model conditions. This was done for 20 normally distributed sample sizes. A total of 320 scenarios were administered. Four coefficients (Ferguson’s δ, GC, test reliability Cronbach’s α, and DC) were simultaneously calculated for each simulation dataset. Box plots were drawn to examine which of these presented the correct property of inequality on data. Two examples were illustrated to present the index on Google Maps for securing the discriminatory power of individuals.

Results

We found that 1-Ferguson’s δ coefficient has a high correlation (0.95) with GC. The cutting points of Ferguson’s δ, GC, test reliability Cronbach’s α, and the DC are 0.15, 0.50, 0.70, and 0.67, respectively. Two applications are shown on Google Maps with GCs of 0.14 and 0.42, respectively. Histogram legends and Lorenz curves are used to display the results.

Conclusion

The GC is recommended to readers as an index for measuring the extent of inequality (or lower discrimination power) in a given dataset. It can also show the study results of person measures to determine the inequality in the health-related quality of life outcomes.