Measuring presenteeism in Catalan employees: linguistic adaptation and validation

Instruments that measure the effect of health on productivity help to inform intervention programmes aimed at improving employees' presenteeism. The Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ) has been used extensively to measure presenteeism but has not been validated for use in the Catalan-speaking population. The aim of this study is to translate and preliminarily test the reliability and validity of a Catalan version of the WLQ (CWLQ). The WLQ was translated into Catalan using back-translation. The final version of the instrument was administered to 19 volunteer university employees in Barcelona. Feasibility (employee debriefing) and psychometric evaluation included internal consistency (Cronbach's α), four-day test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient; ICC), and concurrent validity (ICC) in comparison with the original English WLQ. Item analyses showed a high degree of internal consistency for the total score (α=0.80) and for the four scales of the CWLQ (subscale 1, r=0.82; subscale 2, r=0.80; subscale 3, r=0.81; subscale 4, r=0.78). The test-retest reliability was also acceptable for the total score (ICC=0.69) and subscale 1 (ICC=0.68), subscale 2 (ICC=0.68), subscale 3 (ICC=0.67) and subscale 4 (ICC=0.75). The total score of the CWLQ showed good concurrent validity (ICC=0.81). Preliminary results suggest that the CWLQ is a valid and reliable scale for the assessment of presenteeism in Catalan-speaking employees. Use of the questionnaire will help to inform Catalan companies and business on how to effectively target presenteeism through health promotion interventions