Work-related stress assessed by a text message single-item stress question

Abstract

Background: Given the prevalence of work stress-related ill-health in the Western world, it is important to find cost-effective, easy-to-use and valid measures which can be used both in research and in practice.

Aims: To examine the validity and reliability of the single-item stress question (SISQ), distributed weekly by short message service (SMS) and used for measurement of work-related stress.

Methods: The convergent validity was assessed through associations between the SISQ and subscales of the Job Demand-Control-Support model, the Effort-Reward Imbalance model and scales measuring depression, exhaustion and sleep. The predictive validity was assessed using SISQ data collected through SMS. The reliability was analysed by the test-retest procedure.

Results: Correlations between the SISQ and all the subscales except for job strain and esteem reward were significant, ranging from -0.186 to 0.627. The SISQ could also predict sick leave, depression and exhaustion at 12-month follow-up. The analysis on reliability revealed a satisfactory stability with a weighted kappa between 0.804 and 0.868.

Conclusions: The SISQ, administered through SMS, can be used for the screening of stress levels in a working population.

Keywords: Predictive validity; screening; single-item question; text message; work-related stress.