Original article. Work-related quality of life scale among Singaporean nurses

Abstract

Background: The Work-Related Quality of Life Scale (WRQLS) was developed for health-care workers in England but might be useful, if valid, in other parts of the world or for other professions. Objective: We test the construct validity and reliability of the WRQLS as applied to nurses in Singapore. Methods: A descriptive study was undertaken in 2009 on a sample of 811 nurses at the National University Hospital (NUH) of Singapore who had at least one year’s work experience. The WRQLS was used in order to test its construct validity. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to reduce the factors used to determine WRQLS variance. The Pearson’s correlation was used to evaluate the relationship between the WRQLS and the 12-item short form health survey (SF-12) in order to substantiate conclusions regarding construct validity while Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to test WRQLS reliability. Results: The median age of the respondents was 31 (IQR=12) and the majority were female (96.9%). The median duration of work experience was seven years (IQR=10). Following the exploratory factor analysis, a five-factor model with 22 items was selected, including; 1) job and career satisfaction, 2) general well-being, 3) home-work interface, 4) stress at work, and 5) working conditions. The correlation coefficient showed a moderate relationship between the WRQLS and mental component scale (MCS-12) (r=0.495); and a weak relationship between the WRQLS and physical component scale (PCS-12) (r=0.149). The Cronbach’s alpha revealed good reliability (r=0.92). Conclusion: The WRQLS test among nurses in Singapore showed good construct validity and reliability. It could be useful in a working environment in Asia but further testing might be warranted.

Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Work-Related Quality of Life Scale-2 in the Nursing Profession

“…The job and career satisfaction dimension - the second largest underlying construct - overlapped with working conditions and control at work . Compared with the PCA by Zeng et al [19], the format for loading the 22 original items of the WRQOLS was quite consistent. For instance, factor 6 (items 8, 11 and 12) and factor 7 (items 1, 2 and 3).…”

“…By referring to the representative item(s) in each factor and the foregoing PCA research on the WRQOLS [16,19], the seven factors were named: (1) General well-being , (2) Home-work interface , (3) Employee engagement , (4) Job and career satisfaction , (5) Stress at work , (6) Working conditions , and (7) Control at work . Internal consistency of the overall scale and subscales based on this model was satisfactory.…”

“…Subsequently, Dai et al [18] suggested in a research among the nurses of Taiwan that the scale had good criterion validity (r = 0.78), internal consistency, and test-retest reliability (r = 0.89). Zeng et al [19] found that the scale had applicability among the nurses in Singapore; with good construct validity and reliability (Cronbach's alpha) of 0.66-0.88. This research demonstrated that the WRQOLS had superior psychometric properties.…”

Role of demographic and job-related variables in determining work-related quality of life of hospital employees

“…[121920] We observed that the “item 2” (“I feel able to voice opinions and influence changes in my area of work”) in CAW domain was weak due to a high “alpha if item deleted.” Removal of this item increased the reliability of the CAW sub-scale. Item two has been suggested for removal by previous studies also, although they used other analytical tools.…”

Validation of the Thai Version of a Work-related Quality of Life Scale in the Nursing Profession

“…In Singapore, where English is the official language, the WRQLS is a proven reliable tool for assessing the quality of the worklife of nurses; the researchers who tested it there suggested applying it to other medical personnel in Asia, after translating it into Asian languages [16]. The tool was then translated into Chinese [as the Work-related Quality of Life Scale-2 (WRQLS-2)] and further developed for assessing the quality of worklife [17].…”