1.

General Guidelines
In the general health version (WPAI:GH), respondents are asked questions about work and
activity impairment due to health problems. In the specific health problem version (WPAI:SHP),
respondents are asked questions concerning impairment due to the target health problem (e.g.,
arthritis). In the combination version, WPAI:GH/SHP respondents are asked about impairment
due to a specified health problem and impairment due to other health reasons. The sum of
impairment due to the specified problem and other health reasons is considered impairment due
to all health problems. The WPAI:GH/SHP, therefore, measures impairment due to the specified
problem and all health problems.
The WPAI elicits hours worked (all versions), hours missed due to the target condition
(WPAI:GH/SHP, WPAI:SHP, WPAI:AS), hours missed due to other health problems
(WPAI:GH/SHP) and hours missed for any other reasons (WPAI:SHP, WPAI:GH,
WPAI:GH/SHP). Hours missed for "other reasons" is not used in the scoring, but only as a
prompt to the respondent to exclude those hours from the count of actual hours worked. In the
WPAI:AS, respondents are asked about usual hours worked, not actual hours worked.
3. Coding Rules for Self-Administration
Employment status:
If Q1 = YES or Q1 = NO or missing and hours missed or worked > 0, then employed. If Q1 =
missing and hours missed and worked = 0, then not employed.
Hours missed
If hours worked = 0, then productivity while at work is not applicable.
If the line or box is slashed through or there is a response of NA, code as zero. If respondent
enters a range of hours, enter the midpoint. If respondent records "+" after the number of hours,
ignore the "+". Hours are usually rounded to one decimal point.
Missing or unreadable response
Responses from other assessments should not be used to eliminate missing data. For example, if
a subject indicates he works 40 hours at one assessment, but leaves that question blank on a
subsequent assessment, the blank response is coded missing.
WPAI scores are based on 1-item (presenteeism, activitity impairment), 2-items (absenteeism)
and multiple items (overall work productivity); a score can not be calculated if there is a missing
response to the corresponding item. An analysis of absenteeism would include only those
subjects with responses to hours missed and to hours worked; an analysis of presenteeism would
include only those subjects with a response to productity while working. For the analysis of
overall work productivity, scores can only be calculated for subjects with responses to hours
missed, hours worked and productivity while working.
Productivity questions
If the words at the end of the scale are circled, enter the corresponding number, i.e., a "0" or
"10". If 2 responses are cirlced, enter the midpoint and round to nearest integer.