Abstract
The Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) is a brief global measure of functional impairment that is widely used in adult health. We have adapted the WSAS for its use in youth, the WSAS-Youth version (WSAS-Y) and WSAS-Parent version (WSAS-P). This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the scale. The internal consistency, factor structure, convergent and divergent validity, test–retest reliability and sensitivity to change of the WSAS-Y/P were studied in 525 children and adolescents with obsessive–compulsive disorder and related disorders receiving treatment. The internal consistency of the WSAS-Y/P was excellent across diagnostic groups and time-points. Exploratory factor analysis extracted a single-factor of functional impairment, explaining in excess of 85% of the variance. The test–retest reliability was adequate. The WSAS-Y/P correlated more strongly with other measures of functional impairment than with measures of symptom severity, indicating good convergent/divergent validity. Finally, the WSAS-Y/P was highly sensitive to change after treatment.
Highlights
The Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) [1] is a brief global measure of functional impairment that is widely used as an outcome measure for adults in clinical psychology/psychiatry
The aim of the current study was to provide a psychometric evaluation of the WSAS-Youth version (WSAS-Y)/P in a large cohort of youth with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders treated in specialist child and adolescent mental health services
This study explored the psychometric properties of the child and parent versions of the WSAS, a widely used measure of functional impairment originally developed for adults, in 525 young people with OCD and OCD-related disorders
Summary
The Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) [1] is a brief (five-item) global measure of functional impairment that is widely used as an outcome measure for adults in clinical psychology/psychiatry. There is a lack of similar measures designed for young people; existing functional impairment measures include global (i.e. composed of one single scale) and multidimensional (i.e. composed of multiple subscales) instruments. Global measures lack specific information needed for some conditions [11] and are vulnerable to rater bias [12, 13], whereas multidimensional measures often do not differentiate between symptoms and functional impairment [12,13,14], are time consuming and often require an interviewer [11, 12, 14]. There is a need for a pure functional impairment measure that is brief, easy to administer, and that specifies what areas of impairment are to be assessed
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