Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) into Danish

PurposeThis study aimed to translate and cross-culturally adapt the work rehabilitation questionnaire (WORQ) into Danish to examine the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Danish WORQ and, second, to test the feasibility of WORQ in the Danish context of vocational rehabilitation.MethodsThe translation was performed in a dual-panel approach. The panel consisted of a bilingual physician, a university student in psychology, a layperson, a specialist in social work and rehabilitation, and a professor in social medicine. The international classification of functioning, disability, and health (ICF) codes were cross-evaluated to secure that there was a high level of agreement of ICF codes for each specific WORQ item in the Danish and English version. The content validity was evaluated by the clinical physicians at an outpatient clinic in social medicine and by the case managers at a municipality job center. Data for the examination of the internal consistency and test-retest reliability were collected at the Holb & UAELIG;k municipality from citizens in the working age. The test-retest took place 14 days apart. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were tested conducting Cronbach's alpha, intraclass correlation, and Spearman's correlation analyses.ResultsThe panel experienced only minor challenges in the translation process, leading to minor modifications. The cross-evaluation of coding in the Danish WORQ compared with the initial English version only found small deviations, while the remaining coding agreed between the initial English and the Danish items. The panel argued to add sub-codes to culturally adapt to the transportation forms generally used in Denmark. The general perception among the participating patients and citizens at the job center as well as the clinical physicians and case managers was that the WORQ was easy, understandable, and meaningful.ConclusionsThis study showed that the Danish WORQ have a high content validity and usability. Nonetheless, the Danish WORQ needs to be validated against well-acknowledged tools for assessing functional ability specific to work and in general.

Automated summary

This study aimed to translate and adapt the WORQ into Danish and evaluate its internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and feasibility in the Danish context of vocational rehabilitation. The translation process was performed by a dual-panel approach, and the content validity was evaluated. The study found that the Danish WORQ had high content validity and usability, but further validation against established tools for assessing functional ability specific to work is needed.