The Work-ability Support Scale: evaluation of scoring accuracy and rater reliability

Validation of the work-ability support scale in individuals seeking to return to work after severe acquired brain injury

PURPOSE

To assess the reliability and validity of the work-ability support scale (WSS) in a severe traumatic/acquired brain injury (TBI/ABI) population seeking to return to work (RTW).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

One hundred forty-four clients were enrolled in a vocational rehabilitation (VR) intervention trial through the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program in New South Wales, Australia. Each client's primary brain injury clinician and VR provider completed the WSS pre- and post-intervention. Validating measures assessing dysexecutive behavior, disability, participation, and work instability were completed. Several aspects of reliability and validity were evaluated.

RESULTS

Internal consistency was excellent for Part A (Cronbach's αs > 0.9) but unacceptably low to questionable for Part B (αs < 0.6). Inter-rater reliability between clinicians and VR providers was generally fair to moderate for Part A (κw < 0.6) and worse for Part B (κw < 0.5), with both slightly improving at post-intervention. Strong support was found for predictive and convergent validity, but not divergent validity. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a poor fit for Part A, whereas most Part B fit indices met criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

The WSS can play a useful role in assessing return to work (RTW) potential, planning and evaluation after severe TBI/ABI. Training could improve consistency of administration among staff working across health and VR service sectors.

Profiles of work ability and associated factors in young and middle-aged acute myocardial infarction patients: A latent profile analysis

BACKGROUND

The incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is increasing among young and middle-aged people, and such patients need to be reemployed after AMI events from the individual and society perspectives. However, the situation of employment after AMI was not ideal. Early identification of patients vulnerable to decreased work ability and provided targeted intervention may be beneficial.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the profiles and associated factors of work ability in young and middle-aged AMI patients.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Guangzhou, China, from September 2022 to October 2023. Work ability, self-efficacy for return-to-work, social support, anxiety, and depression were measured by the Work-ability Support Scale (WSS), Return-To-Work Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, Social Support Rating Scale, 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire 9, respectively. We performed latent profile analysis based on three subdomains of the WSS by using Mplus 8.3. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with work ability.

RESULTS

A total of 155 participants (aged 48.58±7.153 years, 95.5 % male) were included. We identified three latent profiles of work ability: low work ability (28.1 %), moderate work ability (51 %), and high work ability (20.6 %). The per capita monthly household income, NYHA functional class, total cholesterol, length of hospital stay, social support, and self-efficacy for return-to-work were factors associated with work ability.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated different profiles and associated factors of work ability in young and middle-aged AMI patients. It is suggested that healthcare providers identify and monitor associated factors to improve work ability among this subpopulation.

Injured worker participation in assessment during the acute phase of workers compensation rehabilitation: a scoping review

PURPOSE

Rates of return to work (RTW) are declining in the Australian workers compensation system alongside significant economic and social costs, disputes, and secondary psychological injury. Non-medical assessment of workplace injuries now considers psychosocial and workplace factors, and worker participation in the assessment process is limited. This scoping review examines studies regarding non-medical assessment during the acute phase of rehabilitation in terms of costs, disputes, secondary psychological injury, and worker participation.

METHOD

An electronic and manual search of relevant articles across four databases was conducted using PRISMA guidelines, followed by quality assessment.

RESULTS

Of the 1,630 studies retrieved, 12 met the inclusion criteria with most focused on assessment for risk of obstructed or delayed RTW.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-medical assessment in the acute stage of rehabilitation identifies risk for delayed or complicated RTW, overlooking potential for the process of assessment to contribute to disputes and development of secondary psychological injury. Doubt around the capacity of workers to participate objectively in assessment persists. These are aspects of assessment worthy of further exploration for their impact on RTW outcomes.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Chinese Version of the Work-Ability Support Scale (WSS) in Young and Middle-Aged Stroke Survivors

Purpose To translate and cross-culturally adapt the Work-Ability Support Scale (WSS) into Chinese and evaluate the reliability and validity of the measure among young and middle-aged stroke survivors. Methods A total of 210 participants aged 28-60 years were recruited from two communities in Zhengzhou. Item analysis, internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and construct validity were tested. Results A moderate level of correlation between the items and the domains (r > 0.60), and the significant differences in items between the high group and the low group were tested by independent sample t-tests (P < 0.001). For Part A, Cronbach's α of the domains "physical", "thinking and communication", and "social/behavioural" was 0.865, 0.857 and 0.912, respectively. The Cronbach's α coefficient of Part A of the WSS was calculated as 0.931. The Cronbach's α of Part B was 0.761, with Cronbach's α values of 0.795, 0.649 and 0.643 for "personal factors", "environmental factors (within the workplace)", and "barriers to return to work", respectively. The split-half coefficients of Parts A and B were assessed as 0.804 and 0.559, respectively. The kappa coefficient of the other items all exceeded 0.60 (P < 0.001), except for a few items. The scale-level content validity index (S-CVI) was 0.94 and 0.90 for Parts A and B, respectively. The original construct of the scale was examined by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and model fit indices were mostly satisfactory. Conclusion The WSS is a reliable and valid tool for measuring young and middle-aged Chinese stroke survivors' work ability and support needs during their return to work.

Development and Validation of a Standardized Tool for Prioritization of Information Sources

PURPOSE

To validate the utility and effectiveness of a standardized tool for prioritization of information sources for early detection of diseases.

METHODS

The tool was developed with input from diverse public health experts garnered through survey. Ten raters used the tool to evaluate ten information sources and reliability among raters was computed. The Proc mixed procedure with random effect statement and SAS Macros were used to compute multiple raters' Fleiss Kappa agreement and Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance.

RESULTS

Ten disparate information sources evaluated obtained the following composite scores: ProMed 91%; WAHID 90%; Eurosurv 87%; MediSys 85%; SciDaily 84%; EurekAl 83%; CSHB 78%; GermTrax 75%; Google 74%; and CBC 70%. A Fleiss Kappa agreement of 50.7% was obtained for ten information sources and 72.5% for a sub-set of five sources rated, which is substantial agreement validating the utility and effectiveness of the tool.

CONCLUSION

This study validated the utility and effectiveness of a standardized criteria tool developed to prioritize information sources. The new tool was used to identify five information sources suited for use by the KIWI system in the CEZD-IIR project to improve surveillance of infectious diseases. The tool can be generalized to situations when prioritization of numerous information sources is necessary.