The Work-ability Support Scale (WSS)
The Work-ability Support Scale (WSS) is a measure designed to assess an individual’s ability to work and support needs in the context of their normal working environment following the onset of acquired disability. WSS is also used to support decision-making with regard to vocational rehabilitation.
It is designed to be used both for people actually in work, or as a planning tool for those considering returning to work.
The tool has 16 items across three domains of work functioning:
- Physical / Environment
- Thinking and communicating
- Social / Behavioural
Scores range from 1 for constant support, to 7 for independence. There are also an additional 7 items related to contextual factors outside the workplace that could affect work functioning.
For further information you can download the Work-ability Support Scale (PDF, 917kb) or the WSS case studies (PDF, 161kb) .
Additional Tools:
Publictaions
- Joanna Fadyl, Kathryn Mcpherson, Philip Schüter, Lynne Turner-Stokes. Factors contributing to work-ability for injured workers: literature review and comparison with available measures, Informa Healthcare: 2010, Vol. 32, No. 14 , Pages 1173-1183 (doi:10.3109/09638281003653302)
- Turner-Stokes L, Fadyl J, McPherson K, Rose H, Williams H. The Work Ability Support Scale: Development and preliminary evaluation (PDF, 50kb), American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Annual Assembly:(November 2011) Destination Education: Orlando, Florida, US
- Turner-Stokes L, Fadyl J, Rose H. Williams H. Schulter P, McPherson KM. The Work-ability Support Scale: Evaluation of Scoring Accuracy and Rater Reliability. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation 2013. E-pub ahead of print.
- Fadyl J, McPherson KM, Schulter P, Turner-Stokes L. Development of a new tool to evaluate work support needs and guide vocational rehabilitation: The Work-ability Support Scale (WSS), Disability and Rehabilitation. Accepted for publication. April 2014. Early online.