Objectives The aim of this article is to present the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), a questionnaire developed in three different lengths for assessing psychosocial factors at work, stress, and the well-being of employees and some personality factors The purpose of the COPSOQ concept is to improve and facilitate research, as well as practical interventions at the workplaces

Methods The development of the questionnaire was based on a survey of a representative sample of 1858 Danish employees aged 20–59 years The response rate was 62%; 49% were women Altogether 145 questions from some international and Danish questionnaires and 20 self-developed questions were tested with factor analyses, analyses of internal reliability, and analyses of response patterns 

Results The analyses resulted in a long research version of the questionnaire with 141 questions and 30 dimensions, a medium-length version for work environment professionals with 95 questions and 26 dimensions, and a short version for workplaces with 44 questions and 8 dimensions Most of the scales have good reliability, and there seems to be very little overlap between the scales A novel feature of the COPSOQ is the development of five different scales on demands at work 

Conclusions The COPSOQ concept is a valid and reliable tool for workplace surveys, analytic research, interventions, and international comparisons The questionnaire seems to be comprehensive and to include most of the relevant dimensions according to several important theories on psychosocial factors at work The three versions facilitate communication between researchers, work environment professionals, and workplaces

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40967527.pdf

The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire--a tool for the assessment and improvement of the psychosocial work environment.

Objectives The objective of the study was to investigate the content, criterion, and construct validity of a singleitem measure of stress symptoms. Such a concise measure would be useful in monitoring stress at work. The criteria for validity were convergence with conceptionally close measures, the plausibility of associations with health and work characteristics, and the power to discriminate between groups. Methods Four sets of independent cross-sectional data were used. The first data set, from Finland Post, comprised symptoms of ill health and mental resources (N=1014). The second, from four Nordic countries, included well-known validated scales on exhaustion, mental health, sleep, vitality, and optimism, and therefore the convergence between the measures could be studied (N=1015). The third, from a metal factory, included three indicators of health and four work characteristics (N=773). The fourth, representing the Finnish working population, described group differences in stress symptoms (N=2156) and allowed comparison with a study on emotional exhaustion in the working population. Distributions, correlations, and factor analysis were used for the study. Results The stress-symptoms item converged with items on psychological symptoms and sleep disturbances and with validated measures of well-being. It had theoretically grounded associations with indicators of health and psychosocial work characteristics, and it discriminated between gender and age groups and industrial branches in accordance with the validated emotional exhaustion scale. Conclusions The stress-symptoms item showed satisfactory content, criterion, and construct validity for grouplevel analysis. It is suggested that the longer scales used to measure psychological stress can be replaced with it in survey research. Key terms construct validity, content validity, criterion validity, health, Occupational Stress Questionnaire, psychological strain, well-being.

Validity of a single-item Measure of Stress Symptoms

Present time perspective as a predictor of risky driving

Subjective state constructs are defined within the traditional domains of affect, motivation, and cognition. Currently, there is no overarching state model that interrelates constructs within the different domains. This article reports 3 studies that provide converging evidence for 3 fundamental state dimensions labeled task engagement, distress, and worry that integrate constructs across the traditional domains. Study 1 differentiated the state dimensions by factor analysis of the scales of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (G. Matthews et al., 1999). Study 2 showed differential state response to performance of tasks making different cognitive demands. Study 3 showed that states are correlated with differing patterns of appraisal and coping. The 3 stress state dimensions provide a general descriptive framework consistent with transactional accounts of stress and performance.

Fundamental dimensions of subjective state in performance settings: task engagement, distress, and worry.

Personality traits, 2nd ed.

Personality correlates of driver stress

One hundred and twenty four occupational first aiders were tested on their ability to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at varying times following training (up to three years). Expert assessment of printouts from a Recording Resusci-Anne manikin indicated that only 12 per cent of those tested would be capable of carrying out effective CPR. Measures derived from the same printouts showed that there was a rapid and linear decay in CPR skills over time with fewer than 20 per cent of subjects achieving a score of 75 per cent on performance after only six months had elapsed since training.



Variables such as age, sex, height, weight and practice on a manikin were not found to influence performance.



Despite certain drawbacks in the design of the study it is clear that retraining in CPR skills should be more frequent than the three years recommended by present industrial first aid legislation.

/pdf/occupational-first-aid-training-decay-in-cardiopulmonary-4df81whrrb.pdf

Occupational first aid training: Decay in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills

Driver stress and related issues influence a number of people and situational interactions. Indeed, in a review of the literature on driving stress, Gulian (1987) found a substantial body of research describing physiological modifications associated with various traffic incidents (e.g., increase in heart rate). Yet few investigations have addressed driver stress from a psychological viewpoint (but see: Stokols, Novaco, Stokols and Campbell, 1978; Hoyos and Kastner, 1987). There is apparently little information regarding coping strategies used by people to deal with driving-induced stress.

Coping with Driver Stress

OSQ: Occupational stress questionnaire: User's instructions

Composition and compilation were examined as two alternative hypotheses relating to ‘cognitive competence’ in older adults. Techniques of molar equivalence–molecular decomposition (ME–MD) and molecular equivalence–molar analysis (ME–MA) were used to investigate performance of experienced (over 100 hours) younger (18–30 years) and older (45–66 years) adults on a word processing task, requiring insertion and deletion of words from passages of text. There was some indication that typing skill may form the basis of a compensatory mechanism. However, differences between ‘good’ and ‘poor’ performers in the older sample supported the position that high levels of complex task skill in older adults are associated with the possession (possibly through maintenance) of high levels of basic cognitive capacities, and are not related to the integration of molecular task components.

A. Ian Glendon

Papers

Personality correlates of driver stress

Occupational first aid training: Decay in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills

Coping with Driver Stress

OSQ: Occupational stress questionnaire: User's instructions

Ageing and word processing competence: Compensation or compilation?