Development of a Vitality Scan related to workers’ sustainable employability: a study assessing its internal consistency and construct validity

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Allard J van der Beek¹  Livia AM Brouwers²  Josephine A Engels²  Yvonne F Heerkens² 

[1] Department of Public and Occupational Health, EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Research Group Occupation and Health, HAN University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 6960, 6503 GL, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;

关键词: Instrument;    Measures;    Stagnation;    Clinimetrics;    Sustainable employability;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-1894-z

 received in 2014-10-31, accepted in 2015-05-29,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMost validated sustainable employability questionnaires are extensive and difficult to obtain. Our objective was to develop a usable and valid tool, a Vitality Scan, to determine possible signs of stagnation in one’s functioning related to sustainable employability and to establish the instrument’s internal consistency and construct validity.MethodsA literature review was performed and expert input was obtained to develop an online survey of 31 items. A sample of 1722 Dutch employees was recruited. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. The underlying theoretical concepts were extracted by factor analysis using a principal component method. For construct validity, a priori hypotheses were defined for expected differences between known subgroups: 1) older workers would report more stagnation than younger workers, and 2) less educated workers would report more problems than the highly educated ones. Both hypotheses were statistically tested using ANOVA.ResultsInternal consistency measures and factor analysis resulted in five subscales with acceptable to good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha 0.72-0.87). These subscales included: balance and competence, motivation and involvement, resilience, mental and physical health, and social support at work. Three items were removed following these analyses. In accordance with our a priori hypothesis 1, the ANOVA showed that older workers reported the most problems, while younger workers reported the least problems. However, hypothesis 2 was not confirmed: no significant differences were found for education level.ConclusionsThe developed Vitality Scan - with the 28 remaining items - showed good measurement properties. It is applicable as a user-friendly, evaluative instrument for worker’s sustainable employability. The scan’s value for determining whether or not the employee is at risk for a decrease in functioning during present and future work, should be further tested.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Brouwers et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015