Validation of the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaires in textile workers in Peru

Musculoskeletal complaints are considered occupational health problems in developing countries with manufacturing companies. In our country there are no validated questionnaires that can be used to screen for musculoskeletal complaints.

To adapt and validate the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaires instrument into Spanish. A cultural adaptation and validation of the questionnaire was carried out in the following stages: translation, expert review, retranslation, and validation of the adapted version. The study was conducted with workers from a textile company in Lima, Peru.

Content validation was carried with 10 experts; criterion validity, with 42 workers; discriminant validity and internal consistency, with 35 textile workers and 35 non-textile; and, finally, test-retest reliability, with 30 workers.

The results obtained showed content validity, with the value of Aiken's V for each question being greater than 0.7 for clarity, relevance, and sufficiency, and criterion validation obtained correlation values greater than 0.7 in most items. Moreover, sensitivity 97.1% for body parts, 17.1% for right hand, and 28.6% for left hand, whereas specificity was 0% for body parts, 14.3% for left hand, and 28.6% for right hand. Finally, test-retest Spearman's correlation was 0.69.

The study allows us to conclude that the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire-JAH is a valid and reliable instrument for the exploration of musculoskeletal discomfort amongst workers in the textile sector.