Background Work ability (WA) and work functioning (WF) instruments can be useful in occupational health practice. The reproducibility of both instruments is important to their relevance for daily practice. Clinimetrics concerns the methodological and statistical quality of instruments and their performance in practice. Aims To assess the reproducibility of WA and WF instruments. Methods Dutch workers completed a questionnaire containing WA questions and the WF questionnaire twice with a 7-day interval between. The questionnaire included an appraisal of current general, physical and mental/emotional WA (0–10) and the composite WF questionnaire of 49 items (0–100). We measured reproducibility, reliability and agreement by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), the standard error of measurement (SEM) and the smallest detectable change (SDC). Results The answers of 104 respondents were available for analysis. General, physical and mental/emotional WA had ICC values of 0.52, 0.69 and 0.56, respectively. For WF, the ICC value was 0.85. For general WA, the SEM was 0.71. For physical and mental/emotional WA, the SEMs were 0.75 and 0.74, respectively. For general, physical and mental/emotional WA, the SDC was 1.98, 2.09 and 2.05 respectively. The SEM of the WF score was 4.78, and the SDC was 13.25. Conclusions The WA questions showed moderate reliability, while the WF instrument showed good reliability. Occupational health professionals can use the SDCs of the instruments to monitor changes in WA and WF in workers over time.
PurposeTo assess: (1) whether work ability and work-functioning instruments can detect relevant changes in their respective parameters following a return to work (RTW) and (2) what proportion of those returning to work show changes in their work ability and work functioning.MethodsA total of 1073 workers who returned to work after at least 2 weeks of sick leave were invited to fill out three questionnaires in the first 8 weeks after RTW. These consisted of an appraisal of general, physical, and mental/emotional work ability (scores 0–10) and a work-functioning questionnaire (scores 0–100). Minimal Important Change (MIC) was defined to determine the proportion of people, whose scores had changed at weeks 5 and 8 following RTW. The Smallest Detectable Change (SDC) was determined to put the MIC in perspective of measurement error.ResultsOf all participants, 235 were eligible for the analysis. All MIC values were below the SDC and thus not suitable for use. The SDC for work ability was 2.2 and 19.9 for work functioning. In the first 5 weeks after RTW, 10–15% showed a relevant, measurable improvement in work ability, and work functioning based on the SDC margins.ConclusionsBoth instruments were unable to identify change after RTW adequately. We can conclude that 10–15% of individuals showed improvement in work ability and work functioning in the first 5 weeks after RTW when SDC is used.
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