Exploring the usefulness of the Work Readiness Questionnaire (WoRQ) to predict return to work/to school in a recent-onset psychosis population

Poster C46, Wednesday, October%2010, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom

Marc-André Roy1,2, William Pothier1,2, Andréanne Lavoie1,2, Marc Corbière3, Chantal Vallières2, Catherine Lehoux2, Sophie L'Heureux1,2, Marianne De Bonville1,2, Anne-Pierre Bouffard1,2, Caroline Cellard1,2; 1Université Laval, 2CERVO Brain Research Center, 3Université du Québec À Montréal (UQÀM)

The Work Readiness Questionnaire (WoRQ) is a short scale for clinicians to assess their patients’ ability to work. The WoRQ can be completed quickly, but to our knowledge, there has been no study to assess its predictive value in a recent-onset psychosis sample. We examined whether the WoRQ prospectively predicts return to work or to school 6 months after baseline, in 22 participants from a first-episode clinic. Inclusion criteria were: (1) diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum psychotic disorder; (2) ≤five years of treatment for psychosis disorder; (3) no occupation (school/work) or only part-time occupation (24 hours/week or less); (4) the desire to improve their occupational status. The WoRQ was assessed at baseline by participants’ psychiatrist. Participants were contacted 6 months after baseline to collect information about their occupational status (school/work). A logistic regression was performed to evaluate if the clinical judgment at the WoRQ (yes/no) could predict improvement of participants’ occupational status (yes/no). The model is marginally statistically significant, χ2 (1df, N = 22) = 3.404, p = .065. The WoRQ predicted 21.6% of the variance of occupational status’ improvement (Nagelkerke R2 = .216), with a global percentage prediction of 75% (sensibility = 42.9%; specificity = 92.3%). In conclusion, the WoRQ is a promising tool to predict return to work/to school in a recent-onset psychosis population, considering the results obtained despite the small sample size. Other items relevant to return to work/to school, such as motivation and cognitive impairments, could be added to increase psychometric qualities of the WoRQ.

Topic Area: Psychosocial Interventions

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