Is a structured work task application for the assessment of work performance in a constructed environment, useful for patients with attention deficits?

Abstract

Background: The purpose of our study was to develop a Structured Work Task application for the Assessment of Work Performance for patients with attention deficits. Material and methods: We developed a computer-based registration task titled the Attention-demanding Registration Task. It had a structured administrative procedure with additional scoring regarding time and accuracy, also linked to the original scoring of the Assessment of Work Performance. We evaluated the Attention-demanding Registration Task for content validity. Furthermore, we investigated it concerning sensitivity and specificity in patients with attention deficits due to acquired brain injury (n = 65) against a comparison group of healthy people (n = 47). Results: Our investigation on content validity using the Assessment of Work Characteristics confirmed that the Attention-demanding Registration Task sets high demands on process skills, especially on energy, temporal organization, and adaptation. The Attention-demanding Registration Task showed high sensitivity and specificity in differing between patients with attention deficits and a healthy working group; nine out of ten participants were placed in the correct group. Conclusions: To assess work performance, the use of a Structured Work Task application, the Attention-demanding Registration Task, linked with the Assessment of Work Performance, proved to be sensitive to attention deficits.Implications for rehabilitation A Structured Work Task application for the Assessment of Work Performance was developed for use in people with attention deficits and showing a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. Linking performance time and accuracy to the Assessment of Work Performance scoring and providing a guide for linking task performance to the Assessment of Work Performance skills in addition to the usual observations performed, may increase scoring accuracy. Reference data for a comparison group of healthy subjects are provided. The use of the Attention demanding Registration Task, while using the Assessment of Work Performance within clinical practice ensures a more accurate description of process skills in performance.