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Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology
Published in: Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology 1/2020

Open Access 01-12-2020 | Research

Development and psychometric testing of an observation-based assessment tool focusing on work-related stressors among health professionals: the STRAIN-External Observation of work Stressors

Authors: Karin A. Peter, Esther Stadelmann, Jos M. G. A. Schols, Ruud J. G. Halfens, Sabine Hahn

Published in: Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology | Issue 1/2020

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Abstract

Background

Health professionals are especially affected by various stressors in their daily work, such as a high workload, physical and emotional challenges. The aim of this study was to develop and test the validity, reliability and usability of an observation-based instrument designed to assess work stressors in the healthcare sector.

Methods

Using a cross sectional design, 110 health professionals were observed during one entire shift by an external observer. Factor analysis was used to test construct validity, Cronbach’s alpha to test internal consistency and correlations using Kendall’s Tau were computed to test for convergent validity.

Results

For 9 out of 10 tested scales the results showed a one-factor solution for all observation scales (explained variance ranged from 55.5 to 80.2%), satisfactory reliability (Cronbach’s alpha between .67 and .92), sufficient usability and satisfactory convergent validity.

Conclusions

The newly developed STRAIN-EOS, an observation-based assessment tool designed to assess stressors specifically in the healthcare sector, was shown to be potentially useful. However, further refinement and testing is necessary before it can be widely used.
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Metadata
Title
Development and psychometric testing of an observation-based assessment tool focusing on work-related stressors among health professionals: the STRAIN-External Observation of work Stressors
Authors
Karin A. Peter
Esther Stadelmann
Jos M. G. A. Schols
Ruud J. G. Halfens
Sabine Hahn
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1745-6673
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12995-020-00275-y

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