Linking job duties, functioning, and employment status using the Work-Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB): An expert coding and quantitative analysis.

Background: An understanding of the link between specific occupational demands and individual worker functioning is limited, although such information could permit an assessment of the fit between the two in a manner that would inform national and state disability programs such as vocational rehabilitation and Social Security disability programs.

Objective: Our goal was to examine the utility of assessing physical and mental functioning relative to self-reported job duties to identify the domains of worker functioning most likely to create barriers to fulfilling an occupation's specific requirements.

Methods: Through primary survey data collection, 1770 participants completed the Work-Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB) instrument after reporting details on their occupations (or most recent occupation if not working).

Information Extraction Framework for Disability Determination Using a Mental Functioning Use-Case.

Natural language processing (NLP) in health care enables transformation of complex narrative information into high value products such as clinical decision support and adverse event monitoring in real time via the electronic health record (EHR). However, information technologies for mental health have consistently lagged because of the complexity of measuring and modeling mental health and illness. The use of NLP to support management of mental health conditions is a viable topic that has not been explored in depth.

Older Adult Productive Activity Participation Using the National Health and Aging Trends Study.

This study aims to characterize factors related to productive activity participation among community-dwelling older adults. Cross-sectional analyses using data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study were used to calculate weighted frequencies representative of the U.S.

Measuring Activity Limitations Within the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS).

Background And Objectives: To better understand the disablement process among older adults, improved measures of activity limitations are needed. Traditional population-level measures lack the ability to distinguish precise gradations of activity limitation and are unable to detect degrees of differences over a wide range of ability levels. Therefore, we used contemporary measurement methods to improve upon current methodologies for characterizing activity limitations within the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) .

Measuring Work Related Physical and Mental Health Function: Updating the Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB) Using Item Response Theory.

Objective: To further improve measurement of work-related physical and mental health by updating the Work Disability Assessment Battery (WD-FAB).

Methods: Cross-sectional study with 1024 disability claimants and 1000 working age (21 to 66 years) adults in the United States. Developed new items to replenish the WD-FAB and analyzed using factor analysis and item response theory (IRT).

Improving Assessment of Work Related Mental Health Function Using the Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB).

Purpose To improve the mental health component of the Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB), developed for the US Social Security Administration's (SSA) disability determination process. Specifically our goal was to expand the WD-FAB scales of mood & emotions, resilience, social interactions, and behavioral control to improve the depth and breadth of the current scales and expand the content coverage to include aspects of cognition & communication function. Methods Data were collected from a random, stratified sample of 1695 claimants applying for the SSA work disability benefits, and a general population sample of 2025 working age adults.

Improving measures of work-related physical functioning.

Purpose: To expand content of the physical function domain of the Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB), developed for the US Social Security Administration's (SSA) disability determination process.

Methods: Newly developed questions were administered to 3532 recent SSA applicants for work disability benefits and 2025 US adults. Factor analyses and item response theory (IRT) methods were used to calibrate and link the new items to the existing WD-FAB, and computer-adaptive test simulations were conducted.

Work-related measures of physical and behavioral health function: Test-retest reliability.

Background: The Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB), developed for potential use by the US Social Security Administration to assess work-related function, currently consists of five multi-item scales assessing physical function and four multi-item scales assessing behavioral health function; the WD-FAB scales are administered as Computerized Adaptive Tests (CATs).

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the WD-FAB Physical Function and Behavioral Health CATs.

Methods: We administered the WD-FAB scales twice, 7-10 days apart, to a sample of 376 working age adults and 316 adults with work-disability.

Interpreting physical and behavioral health scores from new work disability instruments.

Objective: To develop a system to guide interpretation of scores generated from 2 new instruments measuring work-related physical and behavioral health functioning (Work Disability - Physical Function (WD-PF) and WD - Behavioral Function (WD-BH)).

Design: Cross-sectional, secondary data from 3 independent samples to develop and validate the functional levels for physical and behavioral health functioning.

Subjects: Physical group: 999 general adult subjects, 1,017 disability applicants and 497 work-disabled subjects.

Work disability functional assessment battery: feasibility and psychometric properties.

Objective: To assess the feasibility and psychometric properties of 8 scales covering 2 domains of the newly developed Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB): physical function (PF) and behavioral health (BH) function.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Community.

Combining agreement and frequency rating scales to optimize psychometrics in measuring behavioral health functioning.

Objective: The goal of this article was to investigate optimal functioning of using frequency vs. agreement rating scales in two subdomains of the newly developed Work Disability Functional Assessment Battery: the Mood & Emotions and Behavioral Control scales.

Study Design And Setting: A psychometric study comparing rating scale performance embedded in a cross-sectional survey used for developing a new instrument to measure behavioral health functioning among adults applying for disability benefits in the United States was performed.

Do claimants over-report behavioral health dysfunction when filing for work disability benefits?

Backgrond: Questions exist related to the best way to use medical evidence relative to self-report as part of the SSA disability determination process.

Objective: To examine concordance between provider and claimant responses along the four dimensions of work related behavioral health functioning: Social Interactions, Mood and Emotions, Behavioral Control, and Self-Efficacy.

Methods: Using secondary data from a larger study, which collected data on individuals reporting difficulties with work (claimants) due to mental conditions, 39 items were completed by claimants and their healthcare provider.

Development of a computer-adaptive physical function instrument for Social Security Administration disability determination.

Objectives: To develop and test an instrument to assess physical function for Social Security Administration (SSA) disability programs, the SSA-Physical Function (SSA-PF) instrument. Item response theory (IRT) analyses were used to (1) create a calibrated item bank for each of the factors identified in prior factor analyses, (2) assess the fit of the items within each scale, (3) develop separate computer-adaptive testing (CAT) instruments for each scale, and (4) conduct initial psychometric testing.

Design: Cross-sectional data collection; IRT analyses; CAT simulation.

Conceptual foundation for measures of physical function and behavioral health function for Social Security work disability evaluation.

Physical and mental impairments represent the 2 largest health condition categories for which workers receive Social Security disability benefits. Comprehensive assessment of physical and mental impairments should include aspects beyond medical conditions such as a person's underlying capabilities as well as activity demands relevant to the context of work. The objective of this article is to describe the initial conceptual stages of developing new measurement instruments of behavioral health and physical functioning relevant for Social Security work disability evaluation purposes.

Development of an instrument to measure behavioral health function for work disability: item pool construction and factor analysis.

Objectives: To develop a broad set of claimant-reported items to assess behavioral health functioning relevant to the Social Security disability determination processes, and to evaluate the underlying structure of behavioral health functioning for use in development of a new functional assessment instrument.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Community.

Scale refinement and initial evaluation of a behavioral health function measurement tool for work disability evaluation.

Objective: To use item response theory (IRT) data simulations to construct and perform initial psychometric testing of a newly developed instrument, the Social Security Administration Behavioral Health Function (SSA-BH) instrument, that aims to assess behavioral health functioning relevant to the context of work.

Design: Cross-sectional survey followed by IRT calibration data simulations.

Setting: Community.

Development of a self-report physical function instrument for disability assessment: item pool construction and factor analysis.

Objectives: To build a comprehensive item pool representing work-relevant physical functioning and to test the factor structure of the item pool. These developmental steps represent initial outcomes of a broader project to develop instruments for the assessment of function within the context of Social Security Administration (SSA) disability programs.

Design: Comprehensive literature review; gap analysis; item generation with expert panel input; stakeholder interviews; cognitive interviews; cross-sectional survey administration; and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to assess item pool structure.