Abstract
Purpose Unintentional injuries occur frequently and many of the accident survivors suffer from temporary or permanent disabilities. Although most accident victims recover quickly, a significant fraction of them shows a complicated recovery process and accounts for the majority of disability costs. Thus, early identification of vulnerable persons may be beneficial for compensation schemes, government bodies, as well as for the worker themselves. Here we present the Work and Health Questionnaire (WHQ), a screening tool that is already implemented in the case management process of the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (Suva). Moreover, we demonstrate its prognostic value for identifying workers at risk of a complicated recovery process. Methods A total of 1963 injured workers answered the WHQ within the first 3 months after their accident. All of them had minor to moderate accidental injuries; severely injured workers were excluded from the analyses. The anonymized individual-level data were extracted from insurance databases. We examined construct validity by factorial analyses, and prognostic validity by hierarchical multiple regression analyses on days of work disability. Further, we evaluated well-being and job satisfaction 18 months post-injury in a subsample of 192 injured workers (9.8 %) Results Factor analyses supported five underlying factors (Job Design, Work Support, Job Strain, Somatic Condition/Pain, and Anxiety/Worries). These subscales were moderately correlated, thus indicating that different subscales measured different aspects of work and health-related risk factors of injured workers. Item analysis and reliability analysis showed accurate psychometric properties. Each subscale was predictive at least for one of the evaluated outcomes 18 months post-injury. Conclusion The WHQ shows good psychometric qualities with high clinical utility to identify injured persons with multiple psychosocial risk factors. Thus, the questionnaire appears to be suitable for exploring different rehabilitation needs among minor to moderate injured workers.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Livia Kohli, Bettina Gerber, and Romy Schnyder for their help with the recruitment and data management, and Mey Boukenna and Madeleine Hänggli for their critical proofreading. The study was supported by the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (Suva). No commercial sponsorship was involved in the design and conduction of the study.
Funding
This study was supported by the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (Suva). No commercial sponsorship was involved in the design and conduction of the study.
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Sandra Abegglen, Ulrike Hoffmann-Richter, Volker Schade, Hans Jörg Znoj declares that he has no conflict of interest.
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‘All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.’ Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Commission University of Berne under reference No. 2011-04-172.
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Appendix: WHQ Items
Appendix: WHQ Items
No. | English version | German version | Rating scale | Origin scale |
---|---|---|---|---|
WHQ_Work | ||||
W1 | Can you independently plan and organize your work? | Können Sie Ihre Arbeit selbständig planen und einteilen? | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W2 | Can you learn something new in your job? | Können Sie bei Ihrer Arbeit Neues dazu lernen? | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W3 | In my job, I can see from the result whether my work was good or not | Bei meiner Arbeit sehe ich selber am Ergebnis, ob meine Arbeit gut war oder nicht | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W4 | In my work I can carry out a working task, from A to Z | Bei meiner Arbeit kann ich eine Sache oder ein Produkt von A bis Z herstellen resp. Ausführen | Likert scale (1–5) | SALSA |
W5 | My job is not ideal, but it could be even worse | Meine Arbeit ist zwar nicht gerade ideal, aber schliesslich könnte Sie noch schlimmer sein | Likert scale (1–7) | AZK |
W6 | I have too much work | Ich habe zu viel Arbeit | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W7 | Needed information or working tools (e.g., computer) are often not available | Oft stehen mir die benötigten Informationen, Arbeitsmittel (z.B. Computer) nicht zur Verfügung | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W8 | I am often interrupted in my work (e.g., telephone calls) | Ich werde bei meiner Arbeit immer wieder unterbrochen (z.B. durch Telefon) | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W9 | The working conditions at my workplace are unfavorable. There are disturbances, such as noise, temperature, dust | An meinem Arbeitsplatz gibt es ungünstige Umgebungsbeding ungen wie Lärm, Klima, Staub | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W10 | In case of any difficulties, I can rely on my colleagues | Ich kann mich auf meine Arbeitskollegen/-kolleginnen verlassen, wenn es bei der Arbeit schwierig wird | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W11 | In case of any difficulties, I can rely on my boss/supervisor | Ich kann mich auf meine/n direkte/n Vorgesetzte/n verlassen, wenn es bei der Arbeit schwierig wird | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
W12 | I always get feedback about the quality of my work from my colleagues or my supervisor | Ich bekomme von Vorgesetzten sowie Arbeitskollegen/-innen immer Rückmeldung über die Qualität meiner Arbeit | Likert scale (1–5) | KFZA |
WHQ_Health | ||||
H1 | Did you feel helpless during or after the accident? | Fühlten Sie sich während des Unfalls oder kurz danach hilflos? | 0, 1 | PTBS |
H2 | Do pictures about it (the accident) pop up into your mind? | Haben Sie plötzlich auftretende Bilder (vom Unfall) im Kopf? | 0, 1 | PTBS |
H3 | How would you describe your actual general health condition? | Wie würden Sie ihren gegenwärtigen Gesundheits-zustand beschreiben? | VAS (0–100) | IRES |
H4 | How often did you suffer from pain recently? | Wie häufig haben Sie in der letzten Zeit unter Schmerzen gelitten? | VAS (0–100) | IRES |
H5 | How much do you feel that this pain affects your daily life? | Wie stark fühlen Sie sich durch diese Schmerzen im täglichen Leben beeinträchtigt? | VAS (0–100) | IRES |
H6 | I think that I am not able to work normally within 3 months | Ich glaube, dass ich mindestens 3 Monate nicht normal arbeiten gehen kann | Likert scale (0–6) | FABQ |
H7 | (In the past week) I felt as if I am slowed down | (In der letzten Woche) fühlte ich mich in meinen Aktivitäten gebremst | Likert scale (0–3) | HADS |
H8 | (In the past week), worrying thoughts go through my mind | (In der letzten Woche) gingen mir beunruhigende Gedanken durch den Kopf | Likert scale (0–3) | HADS |
H9 | Have you recently been worrying about earning less in the future because of the accident? | Machen Sie sich in der letzten Zeit Sorgen darüber, dass Sie in Zukunft wegen des Unfalls weniger verdienen? | Likert scale (0–3) | SPE |
H10 | How much were you bothered or distressed over the past 7 days by feeling lonely? | Wie sehr litten Sie in den letzten 7 Tagen unter Einsamkeitsgefühlen? | Likert scale (0–4) | SCL-90 |
H11 | How much were you bothered or distressed over the past 7 days by feeling fearful? | Wie sehr litten Sie in den letzten 7 Tagen unter Furchtsamkeit? | Likert scale (0–4) | SCL-90 |
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Abegglen, S., Hoffmann-Richter, U., Schade, V. et al. Work and Health Questionnaire (WHQ): A Screening Tool for Identifying Injured Workers at Risk for a Complicated Rehabilitation. J Occup Rehabil 27, 268–283 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-016-9654-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-016-9654-1