The Healthy Work Survey: A Standardized Questionnaire for the Assessment of Workplace Psychosocial Hazards and Work Organization in the United States

Marnie Dobson; Peter Schnall; Pouran Faghri; Paul Landsbergis

doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000002820

The Healthy Work Survey: A Standardized Questionnaire for the Assessment of Workplace Psychosocial Hazards and Work Organization in the United States

J Occup Environ Med. 2023 May 1;65(5):e330-e345. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002820. Epub 2023 Feb 24.

Authors

Marnie Dobson¹, Peter Schnall, Pouran Faghri, Paul Landsbergis

Affiliation

¹ From the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California (M.D., P.S.); Center for Social Epidemiology, Marina del Rey, California (M.D., P.S., P.F.); Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California (P.F.); Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York (P.L.).

Abstract

Objectives: Work-related psychosocial stressors have been recognized as occupational hazards and assessed in workplaces in many countries for decades. Identifying tools to measure work-related psychosocial hazards to increase awareness in the United States about the impact on employees' health and safety is critical ( J Occup Environ Med. 2021;63:e245-e249).

Methods: We describe the development and psychometric validation of an online tool, the Healthy Work Survey, utilizing items from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Quality of Work Life questionnaire.

Results: There are 55 items in the final core work section of the HWS. Factor analyses confirmed nine factors, and the subsequent multi-item scales had acceptable internal consistency. A user-friendly, online system and automated report compares individual's and organization's scores to distributions from a representative US working population (General Social Survey Quality of Work Life).

Discussion: The HWS is a reliable, valid tool for organizations and individuals to assess psychosocial work hazards.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Health Status
Humans
Occupational Health*
Surveys and Questionnaires
United States
Workplace* / psychology