Psychometric evaluation of health-related work outcome measures for musculoskeletal disorders: a systematic review.
BACKGROUND
This systematic review evaluated the quality of psychometric properties of self-report health-related work outcome measures for patients with musculoskeletal disorders.


METHODS
Electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) between 1980 and December 2006 were conducted for peer-reviewed studies that evaluated self-report work outcome measures for patients with musculoskeletal disorders. The eligibility criteria for the papers included in the review were articles that: (1) discussed the psychometric evaluation of a self-reported health-related work outcome measure, (2) were conducted with patients who were diagnosed with musculoskeletal disorders, (3) were written as peer-reviewed full published reports, and (4) were published in English. Three pairs of reviewers used a modified rating form and evaluated the quality of the psychometric properties of the instruments described in the retrieved articles.


RESULTS
Of the 740 articles that were identified, six instruments in eight studies met the inclusion criteria. None of the instruments demonstrated satisfactory results for all properties. Overall, the highest quality ratings were given to the Functional Abilities Confidence Scale and the Occupational Role Questionnaire.


CONCLUSIONS
Although validation studies of self-report health-related work outcome measures for patients with musculoskeletal disorders exist, they appear to be limited in the quality of their psychometric properties. There is a need to continue to validate health-related work outcome measures and to make them more meaningful for patients and clinicians.
Williams
Renee M
RM
School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, 1400 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, Canada, L8S 1C7. rwilliam@mcmaster.ca
Schmuck
Gloria
G
Allwood
Shannon
S
Sanchez
Matthew
M
Shea
Ryan
R
Wark
Glenn
G
D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010358:Patient Participation; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation