Abstract
The assessment of work-related functioning is a key process in vocational rehabilitation to identify specific domains of disability that can be considered within return to work strategies. The Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) was developed to evaluate work-related functioning based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework and is available in different languages. The aim of this study was to assess the French version of the WORQ using item response theory to further validate the scale. Rasch analysis of WORQ and the WORQ-BRIEF (a brief version of the WORQ) was performed using a calibration sample of 221 persons with musculoskeletal injuries. A four-testlet solution indicated the unidimensionality of WORQ, with no differential item functioning for age, education, physical job demands, and injury severity. Reliability was 0.969 and 0.918 for WORQ and WORQ-BRIEF, respectively. The minimal detectable change was calculated to be 4.2% of its operational range for WORQ and 8.5% for WORQ-BRIEF. Consequently, the French version of WORQ can be considered a good measure of work-related functioning in musculoskeletal conditions. WORQ can be used in rehabilitation practice to comprehensively identify the disability and guide clinical decision making and intervention planning. Further studies are needed to evaluate the psychometric properties of WORQ in other health conditions.
Highlights
Work participation is considered as a major indicator of social participation for persons in working age [1,2]
This study examined the scale reliability and the validity of Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ), WORQ-BRIEF, and four
WORQ aimed to elaborate the complex problems in work-related functioning of persons in vocational rehabilitation (VR), which led to selecting WORQ items from the ICF core set for VR based on statistics, literature search, and clinical expertise
Summary
Work participation is considered as a major indicator of social participation for persons in working age [1,2]. Work participation assures social integration [4]. With an aging workforce and, at the same time, a demanding and rapidly changing work environment that requires high work performance and flexibility, assuring employment for persons with disabilities becomes increasingly important and challenging [5]. Associated increases in sickness absence, a decline in work productivity, along with an increase in long-term disability allowances further adds to social security costs [6,7]. In the last decades, national and private insurances along with governmental social security systems increased their efforts to provide appropriate management of disability to support timely return to work and prevent workers with disability from early retirement [8,9,10]
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