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Background The ageing of the US labour force highlights the need to examine older adults' physical and psychological ability to work, under varying levels of occupational burnout. Aims To examine how age and burnout interact in predicting physical and psychological work ability. Methods Using a cohort of actively working nurses, we assessed factors on the Work Ability Index at 12-month follow-up and determined how these were related to age and exhaustion-related burnout at baseline. Results The study group consisted of 402 nurses aged 25-67 (mean = 41.7). Results indicated age by burnout interactions in which decrements in physical work ability with greater age were observed at all but the lowest level of burnout (1.5 SD below mean: β = -0.14, 95% CI -0.36, 0.07; 1 SD below: β = -0.23, 95% CI -0.39, -0.06; mean: β = -0.39, 95% CI -0.50, -0.29; 1 SD above: β = -0.56, 95% CI -0.70, -0.42; 1.5 SD above: β = -0.64, 95% CI -0.83, -0.46). In contrast, we observed decrements in psychological work ability with age at higher levels of burnout only (1 SD above: β = -0.20, 95% CI -0.35, -0.05; 1.5 SD above: β = -0.30, 95% CI -0.49, -0.11); at lower levels of burnout, older age was associated with improvements in this (1 SD below: β = 0.19, 95% CI 0.03, 0.35; 1.5 SD below: β = 0.29, 95% CI 0.08, 0.50). Conclusions Findings indicated physical and psychological dimensions of work ability that differed by age and occupational burnout. This emphasizes the need for interventions to reduce burnout and to address age-related strengths and vulnerabilities relating to physical and psychological work ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Work Ability Index (WAI) is a measuring instrument which records the work ability of employed people. The aim of its use in companies is to maintain, recreate and/or promote the work ability of employees. At the end of 2003 a ‘German WAI network’ was founded. It has the overall aim of promoting the use of the WAI in work settings (practice) in the context of workplace health promotion in Germany and building a national WAI database. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background The Work Ability Index (WAI) is a well-established instrument to measure work ability. However, the dimensionality of the WAI remains controversial.Aims To identify the dimensionality of the WAI and to investigate dependencies of factors and subscales.Methods The sample analysed in this study consisted of 371 subjects of different occupational groups (teachers, office workers, nursery school teachers and managers). The WAI was measured for all subgroups. Psychometric characteristics of the WAI were investigated using factor analyses with different numbers and different patterns of dependency among the factors. Chi-square analysis and the Comparative Fit Index were used to statistically assess fit quality.Results The group of managers had to be excluded from the analysis as their results were probably overoptimistic due to reporting bias; thus, 324 subjects entered. The one-factor model and an orthogonal two-factor model did not fit the observed correlational structures. A satisfactory fit was obtained using a two-dimensional model with correlated factors. These factors could be interpreted as subjectively estimated work ability and objective health status. Only five of seven items of the WAI could be related unambiguously to one of both factors.Conclusions From our study, we conclude that using only the total score of the WAI is not adequate for population analysis of and assessment of work ability to individuals. Instead, the two-dimensional structure of the instrument must be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]