A Validation Study between Simulated Occupational Activity and the Multistage Fitness test

Abstract

The aim of this study was to establish whether current fitness tests used to determine entry and re-qualification into the UK police force are a valid way of measuring the required fitness for the demands of a job as a Police Support unit officer. The study monitored the heart rates of fifteen randomly selected officers taking part in the multistage fitness test (MSFT) and job simulated support unit training (JST), participants were asked to provide a number from the Borg rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to gauge how hard they felt they worked following training and the MSFT to the qualification level of 6.3. Paired sample t-tests revealed that there was a significant difference (p<.005) between the mean minimum and mean average heart rates from the training and MSFT, but no significant difference (p>.005) between the MSFT and mean maximum heart rates. The police support unit qualification level of 6.3 in the MSFT was then compared with a table of normative data which indicated that the current level discriminates against female officers; suggesting that further research should be conducted to determine a potential increase in the qualification level for male officers. The study also indicates the lack of aerobic fitness demonstrated by the individual officers involved in the study, reporting a mean percentile effort of 90-100% MHR according to the mean age of participants following the MSFT and training