Table 3 COS Criteria: outcomes used in COS for Work should meet these criteria
Outcomes should | Reason for inclusion |
|---|---|
Mandatory criteria | |
 1. Be sensitive to change | The aim of using a COS is to compare outcomes of intervention studies [16]. This implies that the measures of the outcomes need to be sensitive to change [61, 80] for any type of intervention study which may impact work participation. |
 2. Be feasible to measure | COS outcomes should represent a minimal set of outcomes that can be measured [16]. |
 3. Be applicable internationally | COS are developed for international use to make large scale evidence synthesis possible [16]. |
 4. Be specific for work participation | Outcomes should relate to paid work to address specific factors of the worker role that are not transferable to voluntary work [41]. |
 5. Capture the perspectives of multiple stakeholders | Work participation outcomes are of relevance for people who (aim to) work, employers, policy maker, health professionals, and researchers [47,48,49,50]. |
 6. Be in alignment with the ICF model | The ICF is a widely used model in (occupational) health sciences and practice [13, 14, 27, 28, 33, 77]. |
Optional criteria | |
 7. Be used for cost-effectiveness studies | Cost-effectiveness analysis is important for societal decision making. |
 8. Be applicable across different insurance schemes | As COS for Work is intended to be applicable internationally, the outcomes should be as relevant as possible, irrespective of different insurance schemes. |