Preliminary Study On Neurobehavioral Evaluation Of Chinese Nuclear Power Plant Operators

ObjectiveThe purpose of the paper is to explore the intra-structure of the operators'neurobehavioral evaluation in nuclear power plant, develop neurobehavioral evaluation system for using in nuclear power plant operators in Chinese, analyze the characteristic of the operators'neurobehavioral evaluation, and provide a scientific and brief way of neurobehavioral evaluation of Chinese nuclear power plant operators.Methods1. Developing of test draft: The test draft was developed by analyzing the relative literatures, surveys and interviews, meanwhile, our at least 20 years work experience was combined.2. Performance evaluation: The operators'safety performances were evaluated by self-developed questionnaire, and the investigator would be divided into two groups, the"best scores"and"poor scores".3. Forecast: After investigation in the"best scores"and"poor scores"in terms of the test draft, the valid index, weight and evaluation standard of each index in the system was brought out.4. Testing of the reliability and validity: Test-retest reliability was used to verify the reliability. The validity analysis included content and criterion-related validity.5. Standard test: The operators were investigated by Standard questionnaire, and the characteristic of the operators'neurobehavioral evaluation were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and multiple-comparison.Results1. The neurobehavioral evaluation system consisted of high-grade function, cranial nerve, locomotor system, coordinate movement, sensory system, physiological reflex, pathological reflex, meningeal irritation sign, autonomic nerves, such nine Physiology evaluating indices and observational ability, mnemonic ability, attention span, reaction time such four Psychological evaluating indices. The scores of the"best scores"were higher than the"poor scores"(P<0.001).2. Reliability analyses showed that the test-retest reliability of four Psychological evaluating indices was 0.646, 0.615, 0.672 and 0.704.3. Validity studies showed that the correlations among four Psychological evaluating indices and the total scores ranged from 0.421 to 0.718 (P<0.001); The correlations among the scores of safety performance evaluation and the scores of each Psychological evaluating index, and the total scores ranged from 0.386 to 0.528 (P<0.001).4. Age difference studies showed that the scores of observational ability, mnemonic ability, and reaction time was significant (P<0.001);Seniority difference studies showed that the scores of observational ability, mnemonic ability, and attention span was significant (P<0.001); There were significant differences on mnemonic ability, attention span and reaction time in different post. (P<0.001); Education status had a significant impact on reaction time, mnemonic ability. (P<0.001); Marital status had a significant impact on reaction time.ConclusionThe neurobehavioral evaluation system for using in nuclear power plant operators in Chinese was preliminarily developed. Psychometric properties analyses showed that the evaluation system achieved good to excellent levels of test-retest reliability, content validity and criterion-related validity. Preliminary study showed that the operators had different characteristics from different groups. The system could be used to evaluate nuclear power plant operators'neurobehavioral functions.