Tom Kindlon
Assistant Chairperson of the Irish ME/CFS Association
Methods
The Work and Social Adjustment Scale is not valid as an employment measure (or work impairment) and should not be used given actual employment data was reported for some studies.
Here are the questions that make up the Work and Social Adjustment Scale
Mundt JC1, Marks IM, Shear MK, Greist JH. The Work and Social Adjustment Scale:a simple measure of impairment in functioning.Br J Psychiatry. 2002 May;180:461-4.
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/180/5/461.long
Work and Social Adjustment Scale
Rate each of the following questions on a 0 to 8 scale:
0 indicates no impairment at all and 8 indicates very severe impairment.
1. Because of my [disorder], my ability to work is impaired.
0 means not at all impaired and 8 means very severely impaired to the point I can't work.
2. Because of my [disorder], my home management (cleaning, tidying, shopping, cooking, looking after home or children, paying bills) is impaired.
0 means not at all impaired and 8 means very severely impaired.
3. Because of my [disorder], my social leisure activities (with other people, such as parties, bars, clubs, outings, visits, dating, home entertainment) are impaired.
0 means not at all impaired and 8 means very severely impaired.
4. Because of my [disorder], my private leisure activities (done alone, such as reading, gardening, collecting, sewing, walking alone) are impaired.
0 means not at all impaired and 8 means very severely impaired.
5. Because of my [disorder], my ability to form and maintain close relationships with others, including those I live with, is impaired.
0 means not at all impaired and 8 means very severely impaired.
Comment: Only one of these directly relates to work. This means that scores and in particular changes in scores during a trial (or between treatments) may have nothing to do with changes in employment.
