Affiliations: Department of Health Sciences, Division of
Occupational Therapy and Gerontology, Lund University, Sweden | Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Faculty of
Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Birgitta A. Wästberg,
Department of Health Sciences, Division of Occupational Therapy and
Gerontology, Lund University, Faculty of Medicine, P.O. Box 157, SE 221 00
Lund, Sweden. Tel.: +46 462221951; Fax: +46 462221959; E-mail:
birgitta.wastberg@med.lu.se
Abstract: Objective: To develop a self-report alternative to the Work
Environment Impact Scale (WEIS). Participants: First the novel instrument was used and evaluated by
ten occupational therapists and 45~clients in primary health care. Then the
instrument was used by 26~clients who participated in a rehabilitation
programme in another primary health care district. Methods: The instrument was investigated in two steps. First content
validity and utility were investigated through a questionnaire addressed to
occupational therapists and their clients respectively. The response
distribution was calculated by frequencies. Internal consistency was
investigated. In the second step, a revised version of the instrument was
investigated for test-retest reliability and internal consistency. The
test-retest reliability was calculated by weighted kappa. The internal
consistency of the WEIS-SR was calculated by means of Cronbach's alpha. Results: In step one the content validity was good to moderately
good, the utility was good, and the internal consistency was satisfactory
(0.72). In step two the internal consistency was good (0.88/0.89) and the
test-retest reliability was mostly good to moderate (0.35–0.78, median
0.61). Conclusions: The instrument will be further investigated in other
populations and take into consideration additional psychometric properties such
as sensitivity to change, predictive validity, and concurrent validity.
Keywords: Return to work, work environment, assessment, psychometric properties, MOHO
