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. Kristensen NIOH, Copenhagen Denmark

Special features of the COPSOQ Three levels of different length and complexity National normative values Five different kinds of job demands

Work environment professionals The 3-level concept Researchers Work environment professionals The workplaces

COPSOQ The three levels Research questionnaire: Questionnaire for work environment professionals: Questionnaire for workplaces: 141 questions 30 dimensions 95 questions 26 dimensions 44 questions 8 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 and evaluations 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 Scales and number of questions at all three levels

COPSOQ National normative values The national normative values of COPSOQ are based on a representative questionnaire survey of adult Danish employees (20-60y). 2/3 mailed questionnaire 1/3 telephone interviews Response rate 62% 49% women N = 1,858

Illustration of a few dimensions

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire – Influence at work

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire – Cognitive demands

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire – Emotional demands

Examples of job profiles

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire Kindergarten teachers

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire Food industry workers

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire Drivers

How to use the middle size questionnaire at a workplace

AMI’s psychosocial questionnaire Dimension: Influence at work Points 100 60 50 40 Workplace total Departments

Analyses at the national level

Social class and possibilities for development at work Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Study Score Social Class p < 0.0001 N = 1684

Social class and developmental work Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Study 1 Development and growth High 2 Cognitive demands Stagnation and passivity 3 4 Low Low Possibilities for development High

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 conclusion COPSOQ 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.

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