TRANSLATION, CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION OF MALAY VERSION OF WORKSTYLE SHORT FORM MEASURE AMONG CALL CENTRE OPERATORS

Abstract

Background: Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) is a common health problem among Call Centre Operators (CCOs). Workstyle is one of the psychosocial risk factors for MSDs among CCOs. This risk factor can be measured by using the Workstyle Short Form (WSF). The purpose of this study is to translate, culturally adapt and validate the WSF to the Malay language (Malay-WSF) in a CCO population.

Materials and Methods: The original WSF was translated and culturally adapted to Malay by applying the WHO format. The translated version was pretested among 22 CCOs in a courier company for content validation. Subsequently, a cross sectional study involving 160 volunteer CCOs was conducted to test for construct validity and reliability. The data analysis involved in this study were descriptive analysis for the frequency of the variables, Exploratory Factor Analysis for construct validation, Cronbach’s alpha for the Internal Consistency Analysis and Intraclass Correlation for test-retest analysis.

Result: Based on the analysis, five subscales were generated compared to the six subscales of  Part A in the original version of WSF. Item no. 13 was deleted, resulting in a total of 31 items instead of 32 items. For reliability test, the Cronbach’s alpha values for all domains were good (above 0.8), except for the Breaks domain which was moderate at 0.69.  The overall Cronbach’s alpha value for this data was 0.93. The 2 weeks test-retest reliability coefficient of Intraclass Correlation (ICC) obtained was 0.78.

Conclusion: The validity and reliability tests of Malay-WSF have conclusively shown good overall results.

Keywords: Call Centres, Call Centre Operators, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Workstyle, Translation