RELY studies: The reproducibility of psychiatric evaluations of work disability
Expert psychiatrists conducting work disability evaluations often disagree on work capacity (WC) when assessing the same patient. More structured and standardised evaluations focusing on function could improve agreement. The RELY studies aimed to establish the inter-rater reproducibility (reliability and agreement) of ‘functional evaluations’ in patients with mental disorders applying for disability benefits and to compare the effect of limited versus intensive expert training on reproducibility. More info (German and French)
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Project group leader
Project Group
Regina Kunz, David Y von Allmen, Renato Marelli, Jürgen Barth, Ulrike Hoffmann-Richter, Joerg Jeger, Ralph Mager, Etienne Colomb, Heinz J Schaad, Monica Bachmann, Nicole Vogel, Jason W Busse, Martin Eichhorn, Oskar Bänziger, Thomas Zumbrunn, Wout de Boer, Katrin Fischer
Publications
Bachmann M, de Boer W, Schandelmaier S, Leibold A, Marelli R, Jeger J, Hoffmann-Richter U, Mager R, Schaad H, Zumbrunn T, Vogel N, Bänziger O, Busse JW, Fischer K, Kunz R. Use of a structured functional evaluation process for independent medical evaluations of claimants presenting with disabling mental illness: rationale and design for a multi-center reliability study. BMC Psychiatry. 2016;16:271. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-016-0967-6
Barth J, de Boer WE, Busse JW, Hoving JL, Kedzia S, Couban R, Fischer K, von Allmen DY, Spanjer J, Kunz R. Inter-rater agreement in evaluation of disability: systematic review of reproducibility studies. BMJ. 2017;356:j14. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j14.
Kunz R, von Allmen DY, Marelli R, Hoffmann-Richter U, Jeger J, Mager R, et al. The reproducibility of psychiatric evaluations of work disability: two reliability and agreement studies. BMC Psychiatry. 2019 Jul 3;19(1):205. https://rdcu.be/c5AwK
von Allmen DY, Kedzia S, Dettwiler R, Vogel N, Kunz R, de Boer WEL. Functional interviewing was associated with improved agreement among expert psychiatrists in estimating claimant work capacity: A secondary data analysis of real-life work disability evaluations. Front Psychiatry. 2020 Jul 3;11:621. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00621