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The development of the Work Stress Questionnaire (WSQ)

Research project

Active research

Project owner

Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology

Research partners

Kvinnostudien – Populations undersökningen av kvinnor i Göteborg New Ways FoU primär och nära vård

Financier

The Local Research and Development Council of Gothenburg and Southern Bohuslän, Gothenburg University

Area

Health and medicine

Topic

Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine Occupational Therapy Epidemiology General Medicine Occupational Health and Environmental Health

Short description

The Work Stress Questionnaire (WSQ) has been developed with the intention of identifying people at risk of ill health and sick leave at an early stage. The WSQ contains 21 questions that deal with perceived stress due to unclear organization and conflicts, individual demands and commitment, influence over work and conflict between work and free time.
The questionnaire provides an opportunity to see whether the critical combination of stress due to unclear organization and leadership and individual demands and commitment constitutes a risk for ill health and delayed return to work. The reliability and validity of the WSQ show satisfactory results.

Few instruments are available specifically developed to identify the risk of sickness absence. The instruments used are mainly diagnosis-specific, for example for low back problems, musculoskeletal problems and mental health. To detect people at risk of sickness absence early, and also to identify the level of work-related stress at the organizational level, a questionnaire that specifically investigates the occurrence of work-related stress can be used.

The Work Stress Questionnaire (WSQ) is specifically designed to identify people at risk of sick leave due to work-related stress at an early stage. The WSQ is based on the idea that environmental factors such as work environment and personal characteristics such as work engagement are interdependent. In both population studies and primary care studies, we have been able to see that the WSQ is a useful instrument for identifying work-related stress as a risk indicator for ill health and risk of future sick leave. In population studies, it was found that high stress due to a poor work environment more than doubled the risk of sick leave at follow-up, and in combination with high stress due to high work engagement, the risk of sick leave increased more than fourfold. Similar results were obtained when the WSQ was used in a randomized controlled primary care study to identify people at risk of sick leave due to work-related stress at an early stage.

To date, the research has resulted in 10 scientific publications, presented at several national and international conferences, and is used in both clinical and population studies. Furthermore, three dissertations have been completed based in part on WSQ data, as well as several bachelor's and master's theses.

1 New data collection is underway within the framework of the 'Women's Study - Population Survey of Women in Gothenburg'.

Group members

Kristina Holmgren
Professor, forskningsledare, leg. arbetsterapeut
E-post: kristina.holmgren@neuro.gu.se

Anna Frantz
Doktorand vid KI, Leg. sjukgymnast
Backa Vårdcentral, Göteborg

Anna-Maria Hultén
Med. dr. och universitetsadjunkt, Leg. arbetsterapeut
E-post: anna-maria.hulten@gu.se

Pernilla Bjerkeli
Farmacie doktor, lektor, legitimerad apotekare
Institutionen för hälsa och lärande
Högskolan i Skövde
E-post: pernilla.bjerkli@his.se