Assessing stress at work: The Portuguese version of the Job Content Questionnaire

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to study one of the most important tools for assessing the psychosocial factors underlying stress at work. The study of the Portuguese version of the Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) also intends to contribute to the discussion about the theoretical model (the division of the decision latitude in one or two dimensions) and the scale itself (the adequacy of the items from the Psychological Job Demand Scale). Construct validity of the questionnaire was examined using an exploratory factor analysis (maximum likelihood with promax rotation). After deleting three items, the analysis found a four-factor model. The reliability was estimated with Cronbach's alpha, indicating appropriate internal consistency for three scales and problems for psychological job demands. The findings suggest that the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the JCQ are satisfactory, although further improvement is needed for the psychological job demands scale. The results do not support the theoretical decision of dividing the decision latitude scale into two dimensions.