Adaptation et validation d'un questionnaire mesurant les représentations liées à l'incapacité au travail auprès d'adultes présentant un trouble musculosquelettique

Abstract

Health, illness and treatment representations have been described as key factors for return to work. However, questionnaires assessing the individual's representations must be adapted and further validated prior to their use among a clientele in a work disability situation following a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). This study proposes 3 objectives to fill this gap in the scientific literature. For the first objective, a self-administered questionnaire assessing illness representations, the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R), was adapted using a group consensus technique. The group was composed of experts in the work disability field. For the second objective, a qualitative pre-test was performed among a sample of workers from the target population, in order to assess item clarity. For the third objective, the adapted questionnaire and 8 selected instruments measuring separate components of the representation were administered to workers in a work disability situation following an MSD. For the first objective, results from the consensus group indicated 8 items to be removed from the original version. The concept of"illness" was modified for"current health condition" and 26 items were added in order to better assess representations related to work disability. For the second objective, results from the qualitative pre-test (n=9) confirmed item clarity. Participants' characteristics were representative of the target population. For the third objective, the sample consisted of 23 women and 20 men, with an average age of 41 and an average duration of work absence of 8 months. Internal consistency is generally satisfactory (with Cronbach's alphas from 0.58 to 0.87). Construct validity was assessed through multiple regression analyses performed with each of the questionnaire's 9 dimensions and significant independent variables. Final models explain a good proportion of the variance (adjusted r[superscript 2] from 0.33 to 0.70) for each dimension, except for the Cyclical timeline dimension. In summary, the psychometric properties of the adapted version of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire for Work Disability (IPQR-WD) are satisfactory. The use of the IPQR-WD in research and in clinic will facilitate a systematic evaluation of the worker's representations.