Development and pilot-testing of a work readiness assessment battery

Area of Science:

• Occupational therapy
• Rehabilitation science
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Work readiness is crucial for successful return to employment after injury or illness.
• Existing assessments may not fully capture the multifaceted nature of work readiness.
• The Readiness to Return to Work theory provides a framework for understanding key components of work readiness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel work readiness assessment battery.
• To pilot test this battery for its utility in work rehabilitation.
• To evaluate the battery's ability to measure treatment effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Development of an assessment battery based on the Readiness to Return to Work theory.
• Pilot testing using a repeated-measures design with a small patient sample (n=7).
• Recruitment from the Occupational Performance Center (OPC) at The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis (TRISL).

Main Results:

• Participants demonstrated significant improvements across most measures within the assessment battery.
• The assessment battery successfully captured changes related to work rehabilitation.
• No significant improvement was observed in the depression measure.

Conclusions:

• It is feasible to construct a work readiness assessment battery grounded in the Readiness to Return to Work theory.
• The developed measures appear sensitive to changes occurring during work rehabilitation.
• Further research is needed to validate this assessment battery for clinical use in work rehabilitation settings.