The reliability of observation data in occupational rehabilitation

Abstract

"The reflections on the reliability were gained on the basis of the everyday problems of a department for occupational rehabilitation which was attempting to make further developments. The starting point for the chain of thought is the prevalent impression among the employees there that the level of performance of those in occupational rehabilitation has fallen recently. In order to check this the medical report data, which has been collected for years, was examined for evidence of this impression. It could be seen from this that the assumption can be regarded as confirmed or refuted just by the choice of the method of evaluation. As the method using the medical report data does not make it possible to clarify whether the impression of the falling level of performance is true or not, an attempt is made to understand where the impression comes from and why it is so important for the institution that it is worth considering for a longer period of time. For this it is significant that all those employed in the department became independent reporters after the department was restructured. Irrespective of the social value allocated to every training course and every occupation, each employee is now occasionally in the centre of attention or at the edge of the field of observation. In this way differences in significance between the observers were levelled out and new possibilities of observation were developed. Through co-operation with specialised staff from outside the department the observations could be systematised. By using this altered procedure, particularities and common characteristics of those in rehabilitation become visible which did not previously come to particular attention. The reasons for the improved perception can be put down to the observers, the observation instruments and the increasing sensitivity for those being observed. The medical report data only take into consideration what is of importance in the framework of the administrative decision as to whether someone is one of the people who can be helped, i.e. one of those suitable for rehabilitation: health condition, former occupation, the strain in this activity, restrictions according to industrial medicine and the results of the psychodiagnosis, to name the major features recorded. The disruptive variables which combine to make the impression that the level of performance of the clientele is falling, are not recording here. The difficulties in forming categories suitable for phenomena in the framework of statistical data collection become clear. The reasons can be found in the fact that the limitations of the clientele are spread more broadly than the recording systematic of the statistics. Irrespective of the method used to collect the data, the data should always serve the planning of the lives of those affected. This means that the information can only be put to appropriate use if the person concerned can recognise himself in them." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Dern, W. (1997): Zur Abbildgüte von Beobachtungsdaten in der beruflichen Rehabilitation. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 383-397.