Protocol - Job Strain
Description
This protocol includes 15 self-administered questions from the Skill Discretion (seven items), Decision Authority (three items), and Psychological Job Demands (five items) subscales of the Job Content Questionnaire. The protocol includes basic instructions for scoring the subscales and using the subscales to calculate job strain.
Specific Instructions
The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) is a proprietary protocol. A license for the JCQ can be obtained from the JCQ Center website (http://jcqcenter.org/). Currently, there is a usage charge for research projects containing over 500 participants.
Availability
Protocol
Summary of the Skill Discretion, Decision Authority, and Psychological Job Demands subscales of the Job Content Questionnaire
The Skill Discretion subscale includes questions that ask the respondent to rate whether or not she or he learns new things, performs repetitive work, can develop her or his own abilities, and her or his work has variety.
The Decision Authority subscale includes questions that ask the respondent to rate whether or not she or he makes her or his own decisions and has a lot of input at work.
The Psychological Job Demands subscale asks the respondent to rate whether or not they have to work hard; have to work fast; have excessive work; have enough time; and have conflicting demands.
Scoring Instructions
Each question response includes a four-point Likert scale: strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. Responses from specific questions are added together and multiplied by a weighting factor to generate scores for each subscale. Skill Discretion and Decision Authority subscales are added together to generate a Decision Latitude score. Employees are scored as having high job strain if they are above the median for Psychological Job Demands and below the median for Decision Latitude.
Please note that the JCQ also has other subscales that could also be of interest to researchers and that include physical demands, job insecurity, supervisor support, and coworker support. Please see the source information below for further details.
Personnel and Training Required
No specific training is needed if data are collected through a self-administered questionnaire.
Equipment Needs
These questions can be administered in a computerized or noncomputerized format (i.e., paper-and pencil instrument). Computer software is necessary to develop computer-assisted instruments. The interviewer will require a laptop computer or handheld computer to administer or to allow the respondent to self-administer a computer-assisted questionnaire.
Requirements
| Requirement Category | Required |
|---|---|
| Major equipment | No |
| Specialized training | No |
| Specialized requirements for biospecimen collection | No |
| Average time of greater than 15 minutes in an unaffected individual | No |
Mode of Administration
Self-administered questionnaire
Lifestage
Adult
Participants
Adults, aged 18 years and older
Selection Rationale
The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) is a validated, widely used instrument that is easy to use and administer. It has been used in diverse samples and countries to study the physical and psychological correlates of working conditions. The JCQ demonstrates substantial predictive validity with respect to stress-related chronic disease in international and U.S. research (Karasek et al., 1998).
Language
Chinese, English, Other languages available at source
Standards
| Standard | Name | ID | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) | Job strain proto | 63034-3 | LOINC |
| Human Phenotype Ontology | Social and occupational deterioration | HP:0007086 | HPO |
Derived Variables
None
Process and Review
The Expert Review Panel #2 (ERP 2) reviewed the measures in the Demographics, Environmental Exposures, and Social Environments domains.
Guidance from ERP 2 includes:
• Revised descriptions of the measure
Back-compatible: no changes to Data Dictionary
Previous version in Toolkit archive (link)
Protocol Name from Source
Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ)
Source
The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) is a proprietary instrument available from the JCQ Center:
Job Content Questionnaire Center
Department of Work Environment University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lowell, MA 01854 USA
Phone: 978.934.3348
E-mail: jcqcenter@uml.edu
Website: http://www.jcqcenter.org/
General References
Karasek, R., Brisson, C., Kawakami, N., Houtman, I., Bongers, P., & Amick, B. (1998). The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ): An instrument for internationally comparative assessment of psychosocial job characteristics. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3, 322-355.
Karasek, R., & Theorell, T. (1990). Healthy work: Stress, productivity, and the reconstruction of working life. New York: Basic Books.
Landsbergis, P. A., Schnall, P. L., Warren, K., Pickering, T. G., & Schwartz, J. E. (1994). Association between ambulatory blood pressure and alternative formulations of job strain. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 20, 349-363.
Schnall, P. L., Landsbergis, P. A., & Baker, D. (1994). Job strain and cardiovascular disease. Annual review of public health, 15(1), 381-411.
Protocol ID
211201
Variables
Export Variables| Variable Name | Variable ID | Variable Description | dbGaP Mapping | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PX211201000000 | Protocol 211201 - proprietary. Check DCW for more | N/A | ||
Measure Name
Job Strain
Release Date
October 8, 2010
Definition
This measure is a questionnaire that assesses how much stress a person experiences in their job.
Purpose
This measure can be used to assess how much stress a respondent experiences at work by assessing work demands and the extent to which workers can use their skills and discretion on the job. Many studies suggest that jobs that offer little decision latitude and high levels of demands are associated with cardiovascular disease and indicators of mental health such as anxiety and depression (Karasek et al., 1998; Landsbergis et al., 1994).
Keywords
Work-related stress, demand-control model, job stress, job control, Job Content Questionnaire, JCQ, proprietary, Social environments, work characteristics
Measure Protocols
| Protocol ID | Protocol Name |
|---|---|
| 211201 | Job Strain |
Publications
Hitz, M.M., Conway, P.G, Palcher, J.A., McCarty, C.A. (2014) Using PhenX toolkit measures and other tools to assess urban/rural differences in health behaviors: recruitment methods and outcomes. BMC Research Notes. 2014 November; 7(847). doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-7-847