Worker Role Interview Research Articles

Worker Role Interview: Testing the psychometric properties of the Icelandic version

In Iceland, the worker role is one of the most enacted and valued roles, but the national disability rate is increasing and is often associated with the loss of the worker role. Resources in work rehabilitation in Iceland are disjointed, and the Ministry of Health and Social Security is calling for more focused and effective services in the field of work rehabilitation. One step towards reaching the goal of more effective services is having a reliable and theory-based assessment tool available to clinicians. The Worker Role Interview (WRI) is a psychometrically sound assessment tool based on the Model of Human Occupation. WRI assesses the psychosocial and environmental factors influencing injured and disabled workers’ ability to return to work. This article examines the psychometric properties of the Icelandic version of the WRI (WRI-IS) in order to determine whether therapists can use the instrument in a consistent and dependable manner. Fourteen Icelandic occupational therapists completed the WRI-IS with 146 clients who intended to return to work. Eleven of the interviewed clients were videotaped and rated by more than one therapist. Total ratings were 249. A many-faceted Rasch measurement (MFRM) approach was used to analyze the WRI-IS. Fifteen of the 17 WRI-IS items showed acceptable fit to the measurement model, and the items represented a meaningful continuum of psychosocial ability to return to work. The 14 therapists and over 95% of the clients showed acceptable fit to the model. The results indicate that the WRI-IS can generate reliable and valid measures of a client's psychosocial ability to return to work.

Psychometric properties of the Worker Role Interview

Objectives. This study examined the psychometric properties of the rating scale of the Worker Role Interview (WRI). The study also asked whether the scale's items formed a valid measure of the construct, psychosocial capacity for work, and whether they were targeted to and could effectively discriminate between persons at different levels of psychosocial ability for work. Method of study. Data were collected from 21 raters on 440 participants from the United States, Sweden and Iceland. A many-faceted Rasch model was used to analyze the data. Results. Most items of the scale worked effectively to measure the underlying construct for which the WRI was designed. In addition, the items were ordered from least to more of the underlying construct as expected. The scale validly measured 90.23% of the participants, who varied by nationality, culture, age and diagnostic status. The scale's items distinguished participants into approximately three different strata and were appropriately targeted to the participants. Seventeen of the 21 raters used scale in a valid manner. Conclusions. The WRI scale and items are valid across ages, diagnoses, and culture and effectively measure a wide range of persons.

The worker role interview--preliminary data on the predictive validity of return to work of clients after an insurance medicine investigation.

The aim was to investigate the predictive validity of the Worker Role Interview (WRI) for return to work at a 2-year follow-up of clients who attended an insurance medicine investigation center. The WRI identifies psychosocial and environmental factors that influence a person's abilities to return to work. Forty-eight of 202 consecutively selected clients constituted the study group. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to test the statistically significant differences in WRI ratings between those who were working (n = 6) and those who were not (n = 42) 2 years after their investigations. Five of the 17 items in WRI had a tentative predictive validity of return to work. The content area "personal causation" in WRI, had the best predictive validity. The results emphasize the importance of considering the unique individual's beliefs and expectations of his/her effectiveness at work when assessing clients' work ability and planning for further rehabilitation.

Reporting Patients' Work Abilities: How the Use of Standardised Work Assessments Improved Clinical Practice in Fife

Reporting patients' work abilities accurately is essential in the rehabilitation process. Work assessment and rehabilitation require occupational therapists to be skilled in the use of valid and reliable assessment tools to support clinical reasoning. The aim of this study was to ascertain if the use of two standardised work assessments (SWAs) improved the quality of the information recorded about patients' work abilities. Case note review using a local standard and audit tool was carried out before (n = 42) and after (n = 41) use of the Valpar Component Work Samples and the Worker Role Interview. Anecdotal evidence was also collected. The results demonstrated an improvement in the reporting of most of the areas matched against the standard and the anecdotal evidence was supportive of the use of SWAs. It was concluded that the use of SWAs by skilled occupational therapists improved the reporting of patients' work abilities.

The Worker Role Interview: A powerful tool in Icelandic work rehabilitation

A pilot-study using the Worker Role Interview (WRI) was conducted to gather information from clients attending a work- rehabilitation program in an Icelandic psychiatric center. The work rehabilitation program traditionally used a performance-capacity-oriented assessment (PCA) to evaluate work readiness. Clients scoring 90% or higher on the PCA were considered able to re-enter the job market. However, scoring over 90% did not result in automatic return to work for the majority of clients. As a result, many questions were proposed about the effectiveness of the PCA to predict client ability to re-enter the work force. A pilot study using the Worker Role Interview was conducted with an aim to gain insight into what barriers prevented clients from entering the work force. Ten clients scoring 90% or over on the PCA were interviewed using the WRI. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the data. Results from the WRI indicated that clients failed to join the work force due to a number of psychosocial factors, such as lack of personal causation and self-efficacy combined with environmental factors. The WRI provided clients with an opportunity to express their attitudes and opinions towards work. Information gained through the WRI also gave new direction in goal setting for the work rehabilitation program and validated the need to expand occupational therapy services.

Worker role interview: Toward validation of a psychosocial work-related measure

Three studies were conducted to examine the validity of the Worker Role Interview (WRI), a semi-structured interview and rating scale designed to assess psychosocial capacity for return to work in injured workers. The first Rasch analysis study of 119 work-hardening clients with low back pain showed that scale items worked together to measure unidimensional construct, except for two work-environment items (work setting and boss); and the items were logically ordered representing the least to most psychosocial capacity for return to work. The second Rasch analysis study involved a refined scale (including redefinition of environment items to reflect the worker's perception of the environment) applied to 55 work-hardening clients with diverse injuries. All items except perception of boss defined a unidimensional construct. The ordering of items was similar to that in the first study and similar across two different diagnostic groups (low back and upper extremity injuries), indicating the scale was sample invariant. The third study of 42 work-hardening clients examined the predictive validity of the WRI. A logistic regression, which included demographic variables (chronicity, diagnosis, number-of-surgeries, attorney involvement and age), showed that none of the variables predicted return to work (odds ratio ranged from 0.3–1.0). This initial series of studies present a theoretically based instrument, which shows promising psychometric qualities. While the predictive study indicated that the WRI was not useful in predicting return to work, this finding may have been a function of the small n-size in the study or that the WRI may mediate its effect through other variables.

Validity of the Swedish Version of the Worker Role Interview

The Worker Role Interview (WRI) was developed as an assessment of psychosocial factors which influence work success and return to work following an injury. The instrument has been translated and adapted for Swedish culture. This article presents the findings from a study of the validity of the Swedish Worker Role Interview (SWRI) with a psychiatric population. Results indicate that the Swedish instrument is a valid measure of psychosocial capacity for work. Comparison of findings from the SWRI with research on the WRI indicates that the instrument is valid across both cultures and languages and can be used effectively with both physically and psychiatrically disabled clients.

Reliability of the Worker Role Interview

The Worker Role Interview is a semistructured interview designed to be used as the psychosocial-environmental component of the initial rehabilitation assessment for the injured worker. Interrater reliability of the Worker Role Interview was computed for three raters for a sample of 30 adult subjects receiving rehabilitation due to an upper extremity injury. Reliability was assessed with the intraclass correlation approach. The coefficients estimating interrater reliability for six content areas ranged from .46 to .92 with a total value of .81. Three out of six content areas received ratings well below the accepted standard of .80, suggesting further need for instrument refinement in select areas. Test-retest reliability was computed for one rater for a sample of 20 subjects. The intraclass coefficient values ranged from .86 to .94 with a total value of .95 indicating high test-retest reliability.