Assessing the Performance of Individuals with Intellectual and Mental Disorders Using Three Orchard Tasks of Varying Difficulty Levels

Abstract

In recent years, due to an aging workforce and labor shortages in the agricultural sector, coupled with difficulties in finding work in the welfare sector, agriculture-welfare collaboration has been promoted in Japan. However, owing to a lack of understanding in the agricultural sector about the abilities of individuals with disorders and how to deal with them, it has been assumed that individuals with disorders are unable to perform agricultural work. To address this lack of knowledge, in this study, 45 participants with intellectual disorders (Medical Rehabilitation Handbook A: 6 and B: 39) and 12 with mental disorders (Mental Disability Certificate Level 1: 1, Level 2: 8, and Level 3: 3) were asked to perform three tasks of varying difficulty levels in citrus orchards (bagging, harvesting, and fruit thinning). Their work abilities were evaluated based on measurements of work efficiency and observations of their work. The results showed that 96%, 50%, and 40% of the participants with disorders were able to comprehend the bagging (low difficulty), harvesting (medium difficulty), and fruit thinning (high difficulty) tasks, respectively. The average efficiencies of participants with disorders who comprehended the tasks were 55%, 71%, and 111% of those without disorders for bagging, harvesting, and fruit thinning, respectively. For fruit-thinning, six participants were more efficient than all participants without disorders. As described above, some aspects of the work efficiency of individuals with disorders at the start of the initiative were clarified. In the future, it will be necessary to clarify the negative effects of long work hours on physical strength and concentration, as well as on efficiency gains, through further experience and work process innovations.