A SIMPLE METHOD TO EVALUATE THE RELIABILITY OF OWAS OBSERVATIONS

Slides showing nurses in different working postures were used to deter mine the reliability of OWAS observations. Each slide could be looked at for 3 seconds, while a new slide was shown every 30 seconds to rese mble the normal practice of observation. Two observers twice scored a series of slides, some of them being identical at both viewings. To re duce effects of recall there was a time interval of 4 weeks or more be tween the two viewings and the slides were in a different order the se cond time. Different series were used to evaluate inter- and intra-obs erver reliability. The OWAS scores of corresponding slides were compar ed. In almost all comparisons percentages of agreement over 85% and ka ppa's over 0.6 were found, which is considered as good agreement. The procedure described seems to be a useful and simple technique to deter mine such reliability. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.