Predicting Return to Work in a Heterogeneous Sample of Recently Injured Workers Using the Brief ÖMPSQ-SF

M. K. Nicholas*, D. S. J. Costa, S. J. Linton, C. J. Main, W. S. Shaw, R. Pearce, M. Gleeson, R. Z. Pinto, F. M. Blyth, J. H. McCauley, C. G. Maher, R. J. E. M. Smeets, A. McGarity

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Purpose (1) to examine the ability of the orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire-short version (oMPSQ-SF) to predict time to return to pre-injury work duties (PID) following a work-related soft tissue injury (regardless of body location); and (2) to examine the appropriateness of 50/100 as a suitable cut-off score for case identification. Methods Injured workers (IW) from six public hospitals in Sydney, Australia, who had taken medically-sanctioned time off work due to their injury, were recruited by insurance case managers within 5-15 days of their injury. Eligible participants (N=213 in total) were administered the oMPSQ-SF over the telephone by the case manager. For objective (1) Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to predict days to return to PID using the oMPSQ-SF. For objective (2) receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the oMPSQ-SF total score that optimises sensitivity and specificity in detecting whether or not participants had returned to PID within 2-7 weeks. Results The total oMPSQ-SF score significantly predicted number of days to return to PID, such that for every 1-point increase in the total oMPSQ-SF score the predicted chance of returning to work reduced by 4% (i.e., hazard ratio=0.96), p

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)295-302
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Occupational Rehabilitation
Volume29
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2019

Keywords

  • Screening
  • Psychosocial factors
  • Worker's compensation
  • Work injury
  • LOW-BACK-PAIN
  • MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN
  • EARLY IDENTIFICATION
  • PROGNOSTIC-FACTORS
  • PRIMARY-CARE
  • RISK-FACTORS
  • ABSENCE
  • DISABILITY
  • VALIDITY

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