16th Congress on Epidemiology in Occupational Health

Barcelona, September 11-14, 2002

Improvements of the psychosocial work environment on a scientific basis: The

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ)

Tage S. KristensenNIOH, Copenhagen

Denmark

Special features of the COPSOQ

Three levels of different length and complexity

National normative values

Five different kinds of job demands

The 3-level concept

Work environment professionals

Researchers

The workplaces

COPSOQThe three levels

Research questionnaire:

Questionnaire for work environment professionals:

Questionnaire for workplaces:

141 questions 30 dimensions

95 questions26 dimensions

44 questions8 dimensions

Purposes of the 3-level concept

To develop valid instruments for use at different levels

To improve communication between researchers, work environment professionals, and the workplaces

To make national and international comparisons possible

To improve surveys of the work environment andevaluations of interventions

To make it easier to operationalize complicated theories and concepts

The philosophy of the three level concept

Empowerment of employees and workplaces

Improved quality of the work of work

environment professionals

Theory based interventions and assessments

Copenhagen Psychosocial

Questionnaire

Scale Number of questions:

Research Middle Short questionnaire questionnaire questionnaire

Quantitative demands 7 4 3 Cognitive demands 8 4 Emotional demands 3 3 2 6 Demands for hiding emotions 2 2 1 Sensorial demands 5 4 Influence at work 10 4 3 Possibilities for development 7 4 2 Degrees of freedom at work 4 4 1 10 Meaning of work 3 3 2 Commitment to the workplace 4 4 2 Predictability 2 2 2 Role-clarity 4 4 Role-conflicts 4 4 Quality of leadership 8 4 2 10 Social support 4 4 2 Feedback at work 2 2 2 Social relations 2 2 Sense of community 3 3 2 Insecurity at work 4 4 4 Job satisfaction 7 4 4 General health 5 5 1 Mental health 5 5 5 Vitality 4 4 4 Behavioural stress 8 4 Somatic stress 7 4 Cognitive stress 4 4 Sense of coherence 9 Problem focused coping 2 Selective coping 2 Resigning coping 2 Number of questions 141 95 44 Number of scales 30 26 8 S

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COPSOQNational normative values

The national normative values of COPSOQ arebased on a representative questionnaire surveyof adult Danish employees (20-60y).

2/3 mailed questionnaire1/3 telephone interviews

Response rate 62%49% womenN = 1,858

Illustration of a few dimensions

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Food industry workers

Office clerks

Drivers

Cleaners

Shop assistants

Metal workers

Accountants

Domestic helpers

Secretaries

Shop assistants

Technicians

Cooks

Construction workers

Bank clerks

Kindergarten assistants

System planners

Electricians

Mechanics

Domestic helpers

Nurses

Warehouse assistants

Foster parents

Salesmen

High school teachers

Architects

Foremen

Head clerks

Elementary school teachers

Nurses ́aids

Vocational school teachers

Managers

Store managers

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire – Influence at work

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Cleaners

Food industry workers

Agricultural workers

Construction workers

Office clerks

Average

Store managers

Managers

Architects

Elementary school teachers

High school teachers

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire – Cognitive demands

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Food industry workers

Construction workers

System planners

Agricultural workers

Metal workers

Average

Nurses´ aids

Nurses

Foster parents

Domestic helpers

Elementary school teachers

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire – Emotional demands

Examples of job profiles

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire

0102030405060708090

100

Kindergarten teachers

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire

0102030405060708090

100

Food industry workers

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire

0102030405060708090

100

Drivers

How to use the middle size questionnaire

at a workplace

AMI’s psychosocial questionnaire

A B C D E F Workplace

total

Points100

60

50

40

0

Departments

Dimension: Influence at work

Analyses at the national level

78,9

70,968,6

54,4

40

50

60

70

80

1 2 3 4

Social class and possibilities for development at work

Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Study

Score

p < 0.0001

N = 1684

Social Class

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

50 55 60 65 70 75 80

Social class and developmental work

Cognitive demands

Low Possibilities for development High

Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Study

High

Low4

3

2

1

Stagnationand passivity

Development and growth

NIOH’s soft guidelines for the use of COPSOQ

Availability

Anyone is free to use the COPSOQ concept

The short questionnaire is free

The medium size questionnaire

(including software, manual and guidelines)

can be bought for approx. $ 125

The long questionnaire is available for all

researchers

Soft guidelines

Never start a survey of the psychosocial working conditions unless

there is a clear intention of taking action if indicated

All respondents are anonymous

Participation is voluntary

Employees have the right to see and discuss all results

The results should be seen as a tool for dialogue and development

Management as well as supervisors and workers should participate

and be committed during the whole process.

In conclusionCOPSOQ is being used by researchers in several countries, including Spain, Germany, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden.The medium size questionnaire is being used by a very large proportion of Danish work environment professionals.The short questionnaire has been used by more than 500 workplaces and twenty thousand employees.

The end

This presentation is available on

www.ami.dk/presentations/