Psychometric evaluation of the Finnish version of the Assessment of Work Performance (AWP-FI)

Assessment of work ability is complex yet crucial in occupational health and vocational rehabilitation. Evaluating psychometric properties is essential to ensure the accuracy of assessment tools in this field.

The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Finnish version of the Assessment of Work Performance (AWP-FI) with a focus on construct validity.

The AWP assesses a client's observable working skills during work performance in three domains: motor skills, process skills, and communication and interaction skills. Ninety-four AWP-FI assessments were performed by 17 occupational therapists in Finland. A Rasch analysis was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties.

The AWP-FI presented an overall fit to the Rasch model with acceptable item-fit statistics and items performing stably between gender, work tasks, and observation types. A suboptimal targeting was evident and issues concerning local dependency among items and indications of multidimensionality were indicated.

This study provides an initial validation of the AWP-FI, demonstrating generally acceptable psychometric properties, suggesting that the AWP-FI is valid and reliable for assessing work performance. Further testing is recommended to address the identified issues with local dependence and suboptimal targeting.