Work ability and quality of life of brazilian industrial workers

The scope of this study was to evaluate the quality of life and work ability of industrial workers by means of self-perception questionnaires. 100 industrial production line workers on the night shift participated in this study. Authorized Brazilian translations of the Work Ability Index (WAI) and the Abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-Bref) Assessment Instrument were applied. The results show an association between work ability and the whole set of domains of quality of life, presenting a closer association with the physical domain (r =0.61). Furthermore, young men obtained higher ability to work results, while women aged between 30 and 39 had the lowest quality of life indices (p =0.027), especially in the Social Relationships and Environment domains. This shows that preventive guidelines for the improvement of aspects linked to the Physical domain are necessary both in the workplace and outside the workplace, since this interaction exacerbates the effects on the physical aspect in both spheres.