Table 1.
Assessment and evaluation methods
| Occupational and psychosocial functioning | |
| Self-assessed current work abilitya[26] | Q |
| Own prognosis regarding being able to work two years from nowb[26] | Q |
| The Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scalec[27] | I |
| Sheehan Disability Scale, subdomains work, social life, homed[28] | Q |
| Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measuree[29] | Q |
| Respiratory functioning, inflammation, and allergy | |
| Peak Expiratory Flow monitoring for two weeks [30] | M |
| Flow-volume spirometry (Spirostar USB Medikro, Finland) | M |
| Exhaled lower respiratory nitric oxide and nasal nitric oxide [31] | M |
| Bronchial hyperresponsiveness [32] | M |
| Skin prick tests to common environmental allergens and molds (ALK-Abello, Hørsholm, Denmark; Stallergenes SA, Antony, France) | M |
| Asthma Control Test (ACT)f[33] | Q |
| Autonomic nervous system function and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning | |
| Cardiovascular tests [34], [35], [36] | M |
| Hyperventilation provocation test [37] | M |
| Long-term recording of heart rate variability in beat-to-beat intervals [38], [39] | M |
| Salivary cortisol (LIA, IBL Hamburg, Germany) [40] | M |
| Psychiatric symptoms and functioning and personality | |
| Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders (I and II) [41] | I |
| Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale [42] | I |
| Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale [43] | I |
| Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale [44] | Q |
| Beck Anxiety Inventory [45] | Q |
| Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale [46] | Q |
| The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [47] | Q |
| Beck Depression Inventory [48], [49] | Q |
| Insomnia Severity Index [50] | Q |
| Other characteristics | |
| Demographics (e.g. age, gender, marital status, education, work, sick leave) | I + Q |
| Health condition, current symptoms, pain, diseases, medication | I + Q |
| The Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory [51] | |
| Chemical Intoleranceg, Life impacth | Q |
| Intolerance to indoor air moldsg, intolerance to electromagnetic fieldsg | Q |
| Environmental-related health concernsi | Q |
| Indoor air quality at workplace and home | I + Q |
I, interview; M, medical investigation; Q, questionnaire.
Scale from 0 (total work disability) to 10 (work ability at its best).
Options “fairly sure”, “not sure”, or “hardly”.
Scale 1–100: 51–70 (moderate or some difficulty), 71–80 (slight impairment), 81–100 (good or superior functioning).
Each subdomain on a scale 0–10: 0 (not at all disability), 1–3 (mildly), 4–6 (moderately), 7–9 (markedly), 10 (extremely).
Mean of the 14 items, each item on a scale 1–7: 1 (never or almost never), 2 (very infrequently), 3 (quite infrequently), 4 (sometimes), 5 (quite frequently), 6 (very frequently), 7 (always or almost always).
The Finnish version of the ACT. The ACT is a trademark of Quality Metric Incorporated 2002 GlaxoSmithKline.
Each item on a scale 0–10: 0 (not at all a problem), 5 (moderate symptoms), 10 (disabling symptoms).
Each item on a scale 0–10: 0 (not at all), 5 (moderately), 10 (severely).
Scale from 0 (not at all concern) to 10 (extremely concern).