Reliability and Factor Validity of Two Screening Test (Clock and Frontal Assessment Battery FAB) of Neuropsychological Effects on Exposed Agricultural Workers from Maule, Chile

摘要

In recent decades, great attention has been given to the development and application of tests that evaluate the neurobehavioral and cognitive effects of exposure to neurotoxic substances such as pesticides, especially in the occupational field. Experts have stressed that it is necessary to apply tests in a context of test and re-test or health surveillance, in order to establish early monitoring in occupational populations regarding the neurotoxic effect. Thus, it is necessary to test assessment instruments that could be utilized as "screening" measures on exposed population. The purpose of this work is to evaluate two test of pen and paper (Clock and Frontal assessment Battery [FAB]) with regard to their reliability (test-retest stability) and factor validity on a preliminary sample (N=65) of agricultural workers and pesticide applicators from Maule Region of Chile. The analysis shows that there is a test re-test strong positive correlation for the Clock Test (rho= 0.609, p=0.01) and a moderate correlation for the FAB (rho=0.404, p=0.01). The analysis of the two test altogether showed a good consistency (alpha = 0.53) and between the two retest a high consistency (alpha=0.83). The factor analysis showed one significant component that explains 60% of the variance. The results of this preliminary work show that these simple and economy tests present strong psychometric properties for its use as screening measures with farmworkers and pesticide applicators.