Reliability and Construct Validity of the Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire Domains in Patients with Persistent Low Back Pain.
Anders Hansen, Henrik Hein Lauridsen, Reuben Escorpizo and 4 others
PMID 39516421WHAT IT FOUND
The WORQ reliably tracks physical limitations in patients with persistent low back pain but struggles to detect mild psychological or cognitive issues.
It is useful for screening work-related disability, but its scores cannot reliably predict individual physical capacity or guide specific treatment changes over time.
Key findings
01The questionnaire's physical functioning domain showed good reliability and validity, correlating strongly with work ability and physical capacity tests like the sit-to-stand and 6-minute walk.
02The psychological well-being and cognitive ability domains exhibited significant floor effects, meaning they failed to detect mild impairments in 20% and 30.1% of participants respectively.
03Self-reported physical function scores had low sensitivity and specificity when compared to actual physical capacity tests, indicating they are poor predictors of an individual's true physical capability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study relied on self-report for eligibility, which may not capture all dimensions of the condition. Cognitive ability was assessed using proxies like sleep function and anxiety, which may not accurately reflect cognitive impairment. The test-retest reliability was not high enough (ICC < 0.9) to confidently track changes in individual patients over time. Floor effects in psychological and cognitive domains limit the tool's ability to detect mild impairments.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Region Syddanmark and the University of Southern Denmark. No conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the WORQ to monitor individual patient progress or to predict physical capacity. The test-retest reliability was insufficient for individual-level decisions, and self-reported scores did not accurately match results from physical capacity tests.
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