Abstract
Leading up to the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) 10 meeting, the goal of the Worker Productivity Special Interest Group (WP-SIG) was to make progress on 3 key issues that relate to the application and interpretation of worker productivity outcomes in arthritis: (1) to review existing conceptual frameworks to help consolidate our intended target and scope of measurement; (2) to examine the methodologic issues associated with our goal of combining multiple indicators of worker productivity loss (e.g., absenteeism <—> presenteeism) into a single comprehensive outcome; and (3) to examine the relevant contextual factors of work and potential implications for the interpretation of scores derived from existing outcome measures. Progress was made on all 3 issues at OMERACT 10. We identified 3 theoretical frameworks that offered unique but converging perspectives on worker productivity loss and/or work disability to provide guidance with classification, selection, and future recommendation of outcomes. Several measurement and analytic approaches to combine absenteeism and presenteeism outcomes were proposed, and the need for further validation of such approaches was also recognized. Finally, participants at the WP-SIG were engaged to brainstorm and provide preliminary endorsements to support key contextual factors of worker productivity through an anonymous “dot voting” exercise. A total of 24 specific factors were identified, with 16 receiving ≥ 1 vote among members, reflecting highly diverse views on specific factors that were considered most important. Moving forward, further progress on these issues remains a priority to help inform the best application of worker productivity outcomes in arthritis research.
Footnotes
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Supported by the Canadian Arthritis Network (part of the Networks of Centres of Excellence) in partnership with The Arthritis Society and the Research Advisory Council of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario; by an unrestricted grant from Abbott; and funding provided by OMERACT. K. Tang is supported by a PhD Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Canadian Arthritis Network Graduate Award, a Syme Fellowship from the Institute for Work and Health, and an OMERACT Fellow Travel Bursary from the American College of Rheumatology. R. Escorpizo is supported by a grant at Swiss Paraplegic Research and a EULAR travel grant. D.E. Beaton is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigators Award. C. Bombardier holds a Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer for Musculoskeletal Care. D. Lacaille is supported by an Investigator Award from The Arthritis Society of Canada and is the Nancy and Peter Paul Saunders Scholar. W. Zhang is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Doctoral Research Award in the Area of Public Health Research and a Canadian Arthritis Network Graduate Award. R.H. Osborne is supported in part by a National Health and Medical Research Council Population Health Career Development Fellowship.