Validity and reliability of Japanese version of the MAPO index for assessing manual patient handling in nursing homes

• Published in: Journal of Occupational Health Vol. 66; no. 1; p. uiae016
• Main Authors: Tani, Naomichi, Ichikawa, Fumiko, Oda, Susumu, Menoni, Olga, Tasso, Marco, Iwakiri, Kazuyuki, Kumashiro, Masaharu, Ebara, Takeshi, Tsutsui, Yasuhiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Japan Society for Occupational Health 04.01.2024; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Caregivers; East Asian People; Female; Humans; Japan; Logistic Models; Low Back Pain; Male; manual handling; Middle Aged; Moving and Lifting Patients; musculoskeletal diseases; Nursing Homes; Occupational Diseases; organizational approach; Original; Reproducibility of Results; risk assessment; Risk Assessment - methods; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Japan; risk assessment; manual handling; organizational approach; low back pain; musculoskeletal diseases
• ISSN: 1341-9145; 1348-9585; 1348-9585
• DOI: 10.1093/joccuh/uiae016

Objectives: Low back pain (LBP) among caregivers in Japanese nursing homes has long been considered an occupational health issue. This study aimed to verify the reliability and validity of our developed Japanese version of the Movement and Assistance for Hospitalized Patients (J-MAPO) index, a risk assessment tool for LBP, in nursing homes.Methods: Two inspectors assessed 15 nursing homes using J-MAPO, and deduced 3 LBP risk levels as follows: low, moderate, and high risk. Caregivers in nursing homes responded to a self-administered questionnaire on LBP over the past 12 months. Data from 296 caregivers with no missing data were used. We further used logistic regression models to analyze the association between LBP as a dependent variable, and J-MAPO risk level as an independent variable. We used Cohen kappa coefficient to assess interrater reliability to further assess the agreement between the 2 inspectors.Results: The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the adjusted odds ratio and 95% CIs for LBP increased progressively with J-MAPO risk level (Low-risk: 1.00; Moderate-risk: 1.70 [0.74-3.91]; High-risk: 2.67 [1.28-5.56]). Furthermore, the J-MAPO risk levels assessed by the 2 inspectors were in perfect agreement (κ = 1) observed for interrater reliability using Cohen kappa coefficient.Conclusions: There was high interrater reliability, and J-MAPO risk levels were associated with LBP. Therefore, our results suggest that the J-MAPO is a useful risk assessment tool for LBP in Japanese nursing homes.