© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Work and Social Adjustment Scale: a simple measure of impairment in functioning
Healthcare Technology Systems Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Imperial College and King's College London, UK
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Healthcare Technology Systems Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Correspondence: Dr James C. Mundt, Healthcare Technology Systems, Inc., 7617 Mineral Point Road, Suite 300, Madison, WI 53717, USA
Declaration of interest The copyright in WSAS is owned by I. M. M. Financial support from Pfizer, Inc. (see Acknowledgements).
Background Patients' perspectives concerning impaired functioning provide important information.
Aims To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS).
Method Data from two studies were analysed. Reliability analyses included internal scale consistency, test—retest and parallel forms. Convergent and criterion validities were examined with respect to disorder severity.
Results Cronbach's 
measure of internal scale consistency
ranged from 0.70 to 0.94. Test—retest correlation was 0.73. Interactive
voice response administrations of the WSAS gave correlations of 0.81 and 0.86
with clinician interviews. Correlations of WSAS with severity of depression
and obsessive—compulsive disorder symptoms were 0.76 and 0.61,
respectively. The scores were sensitive to patient differences in disorder
severity and treatment-related change.
Conclusions The WSAS is a simple, reliable and valid measure of impaired functioning. It is a sensitive and useful outcome measure offering the potential for readily interpretable comparisons across studies and disorders.
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