The work environment impact scale – self-rating (WEIS-SR) evaluated in primary health care in Sweden

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.