COPSOQ

The COPSOQ is a validated and comprehensive questionnaire used internationally to measure a wide variety of psychosocial working conditions [27]. As Kristensen, et al. [27] write, the COPSOQ is intended to be as broad and comprehensive as possible by covering possibly all relevant psychosocial workplace factors. The COPSOQ is thus, “theory-based without being based on one specific theory” [27]. The questionnaire includes a wide variety of aspects on working conditions taken from different theories and models in order to assess psychosocial working conditions as comprehensively as possible. Approximately half of the GHS participants who were working at baseline were assessed with the German standard version of the COPSOQ that comprised 25 scales in the dimensions: demands, influence and development, support and leadership, further parameters, and outcomes (strain/effects) [26, 30, 31]. The COPSOQ scaled to values between 0 and 100 (minimum and maximum value, respectively). Staying with the standard procedure for COPSOQ, scale values are calculated based on the available answers if at least half of the scale items are answered; if less than half of the items are answered, the scale value is set to missing.

Depending on the content of the scales, higher scores can represent either favorable or unfavorable conditions. Higher scores represent favorable conditions for the scales measuring influence at work, degree of freedom at work, possibilities for development, meaning of work and workplace commitment, predictability, role clarity, quality of leadership, social support, feedback, social relations, and sense of community. In the case of the scales for quantitative demands, emotional demands, demands for hiding emotions, work-privacy conflict, job insecurity, role-conflicts, and mobbing, higher scores represent unfavorable conditions.

The demand domain of the COPSOQ included four scales:

quantitative demands were estimated with four items (e.g. Do you have to work very fast? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/hardly ever),

emotional demands with three items (e.g. Is your work emotionally to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent),

demands for hiding emotions with two items (e.g. Does your work require that you hide your feelings? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent), and

work-privacy-conflict with five items (e.g. The demands of my work interfere with my private and family life. Agree fully; agree somewhat; undecided; disagree somewhat; disagree).

Five scales belonged to the thematic domain of influence and development: influence at work (4 items; e.g. Do you have a large degree of influence on the decisions concerning your work? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/ hardly ever),

degree of freedom of work (4 items; e.g. Can you decide when to take a break? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/hardly ever),

possibilities for development at work (4 items; Do you have the possibility of learning new things through your work to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent),

meaning of work (3 items; e.g. Is your work meaningful? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent), and

workplace commitment (4 items; Are you proud of being part of this company? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent).

The interpersonal relations and leadership domain comprised nine scales:

predictability (2 items; e.g. At your place of work, are you informed well in advance concerning for example, important decisions, changes, or plans for the future? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent),

role-clarity (4 items; e.g. Do you know exactly which areas are your responsibility? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent),

role conflicts (4 items; e.g. Are contradictory demands placed on you at work? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent),

quality of leadership (4 items; e.g. To what extent would you say your immediate superior makes sure that the members of staff have good development opportunities? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent; I don’t have a superior/colleagues),

social support (4 items; e.g. How often do you get help and support from your colleagues, if needed? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/hardly ever; I don’t have a superior/colleagues),

feedback (2 items; How often does your immediate superior talk with you about how well you carry out your work? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/hardly ever; I don’t have a superior/colleagues),

social relations (2 items; e.g. Is it possible for you to talk to your colleagues while you are working? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/hardly ever; I don’t have a superior/colleagues),

sense of community (3 items; e.g. Is there a good atmosphere between you and your colleagues at work? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/hardly ever; I don’t have a superior/colleagues), and

mobbing (1 item; How often do you feel unjustly criticized, bullied or shown up in front of others by your colleagues and your superior? always; often; sometimes; seldom; never/hardly ever; I don’t have a superior/colleagues).

As a further parameter, job insecurity was measured with 4 items (e.g. Are you worried about becoming unemployed? to a very large extent; to a large extent; somewhat; to a small extent; to a very small extent).

More information on the German standard version of COPSOQ can be found at www.copsoq.de, more information on the international development of the questionnaire at www.copsoq.network.org.