Abstract
Study design
Mixed methods.
Objectives
The aim of our study was to investigate the content validity of the Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) for use in persons with post-acute and chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting
A university-based Rehabilitation Center in The Netherlands.
Methods
Contents of the WORQ, brief ICF core sets for SCI for post-acute care and for chronic situation were compared with semi-guided interviews with persons with SCI and controlled for relevance by SCI rehabilitation professionals in two group meetings.
Results
Fourteen interviews with persons with SCI were performed. Two group meetings with 8 and 9 SCI rehabilitation professionals were held. Thirty seven of the 46 ICF categories (80%) of the WORQ were confirmed by both sources: mentioned in interviews with persons with SCI and considered important by the SCI professionals. The remaining 9 categories (20%) were confirmed by either the persons with SCI or the SCI professionals. Fourteen ICF categories that are part of the brief ICF core set for SCI for acute care and/or chronic situation, however are not part of the WORQ, have revealed importance by persons with SCI and SCI professionals.
Conclusion
Our study confirms that most categories of the WORQ are important to consider for VR in persons with SCI, however, there are ICF categories that are absent in the WORQ and deemed relevant for use in VR in persons with SCI. Consequently, the content validity of the WORQ without additional items is insufficient for persons with SCI.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to M Hund for typing out the interviews and the interviewed members of the SCI rehabilitation team: G.G. van Laar, S.M. Teeninga, W.K.S. Smid, P.M.B. Habers, H. IJbema, V. Leseman and F.M. de Goei.
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EHR and CCI performed the data collection and analysis. EHR drafted the paper. MFR and MWMP provided feedback on the data collection, analyses, and paper.
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The authors declare no competing interests.
Ethics statement
The Medical Ethics Committee of the University Medical Centre Groningen declared that this protocol did not need formal ethical approval under the Dutch law regulating medical research in human beings (reference number METc2019/243). We certify that all applicable institutional and governmental regulations concerning the ethical use of human volunteers were followed during the course of this research. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Roels, E.H., Schneider, C.C.I., Reneman, M.F. et al. Content validity of the Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) for persons with spinal cord injury: A mixed methods study. Spinal Cord 60, 354–360 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-021-00738-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-021-00738-x
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