The Work and Social Adjustment Scale: Psychometric properties and validity among males and females, and outpatients with and without personality disorders
Abstract
The Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) is an outcome measure assessing degree of functional impairment. Its psychometric properties, validity and sensitivity to change have been supported in several studies. However, no explicit psychometric or validity study of WSAS has been performed on data from a large sample of psychiatric outpatients, with and without personality disorders. The aim of this study was therefore to provide additional knowledge of the properties of WSAS in such a sample. The material comprised data from 1371 patients, from 15 different units participating in the Norwegian Network of Personality-Focused Treatment Programs. Psychometric properties of the scale, such as measurement invariance among males and females, longitudinal invariance, as well as associations with other clinical measures and sensitivity to change were analysed. The results confirm that WSAS constitutes a reliable, unidimensional and gender invariant measure, sensitive to change and to severity of mental distress. Although highly associated with levels of depression, WSAS measures a clinically important aspect of impairment. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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The WSAS is a 5-item self-report questionnaire that assesses disability in daily life.
“The WSAS [84, 85] is a 5-item self-report questionnaire to assess disability in daily life (e.g., work, home management, social activities) on a 9-point Likert scale (0 = no disability, 8 = severe disability).”
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Background
- Authors
- Pedersen, G., Kvarstein, E. H., & Wilberg, T.
- Affiliations
- Oslo University Hospital (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Pedersen, G.
- Venue
- Personality and Mental Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-07-05
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 215-228
- ISSN
- 1932-8621 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2731140735
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 7.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Personality and Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Keywords
- Work and Social Adjustment Scale, functional disability, personality disorders, psychiatric outpatients, measurement invariance, gender differences, sensitivity to change, depression, psychometric properties
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Outpatients, Personality Disorders, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychometrics, Social Adjustment, Work
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