title: Development of a composite questionnaire, the valuation of lost productivity, to value productivity losses: application in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Existing productivity questionnaires do not capture sufficient information to enable the proper valuation of an individual's productivity loss to a society. The purpose of this article is to develop a questionnaire that captures the time lost from work due to a health problem and job and workplace characteristics so that the value of productivity loss to society can be calculated.
  
  
  METHODS
  First, a questionnaire battery was developed by selecting items from existing productivity questionnaires. Next, items with similar content were identified and duplications were eliminated. Third, the draft questionnaire's feasibility was pretested in a focus group (n = 15). Finally, after appropriate refinements, its applicability was tested in 140 employed patients with rheumatoid arthritis recruited from a cohort in the United Kingdom. Multipliers relating the wage to marginal productivity were also derived using the questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The final questionnaire includes items on employment status; absenteeism; presenteeism; unpaid work; and job characteristics, which includes questions on team dynamics, availability of substitutes and their substitutability, time sensitivity, and compensation mechanisms. The importance of incorporating these questions demonstrated that when one employee was absent, or present at work but unable to work at full capacity, the consequent output loss could exceed the output of the employee alone. Multipliers were shown to be greater than one and represented the excess output loss.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new questionnaire enabled the job and workplace characteristics to be captured so that the actual productivity loss at the societal level attributable to absenteeism and presenteeism could be valued.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bansback
authors.forename: Annelies
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boonen
authors.forename: Johan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Severens
authors.forename: Aslam H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Anis
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000191:economics*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017281:Cost of Illness; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000191:economics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D014937:Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017132:Workplace / Q000191:economics