Psychometric Evaluation of Health-Related Work Outcome Measures For Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review

Introduction: 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.