A longitudinal study of the influence of work characteristics, work-family status, and social activities on problem drinking: the Japanese civil servants study.

Problem drinking causes a decline in labor productivity among working population. This study examined whether work characteristics, work-family status, and social activities are associated with future problem drinking behavior among Japanese civil servants. A total of 1,535 participants (men: 63.1%, women: 36.9%) with no problem drinking behavior were followed up from 2014 to 2019. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the factors associated with future problem drinking behavior. During the five-year follow-up period, the cumulative incidence of problem drinking was 9.6% and 5.8% in men and women, respectively. In both men and women, frequent drinking around three times a week or more and alcohol consumption of two units or more at baseline were associated with future problem drinking. In men, compared with low-grade employees, high-grade employees were less likely to become problem drinkers (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.33-0.95). Shift workers were significantly associated with the incidence of problem drinking (OR: 2.96, 95% CI: 1.46-6.00). In women, poor own work performance was significantly associated with problem drinking (OR: 5.30, 95% CI: 1.57-17.86). In conclusion, disadvantaged work characteristics are associated with the development of problem drinking. To prevent problem drinking, attention should be paid to poor work characteristics.

It's an e-work life! An explorative study on the relationships between e-work characteristics and well-being.

This study investigates how remote e-working characteristics are related to employees' well-being in Italy. We conducted a longitudinal study with two time points and a 1-month time lag, involving a final sample of 223 employees. Controlling for the auto-regressive effects of all the outcomes, our results revealed that experiencing work-life balance during e-working was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and social isolation, while it was positively related to career progression. Organisational trust also showed a positive relationship with career progression. Regarding well-being indicators of e-working, cognitive weariness during e-working was positively linked to emotional exhaustion, social isolation and physical complaints. Lastly, social isolation was negatively associated with subsequent perceptions of career progression. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the factors in e-work related to different well-being outcomes and can inform organisational interventions aimed at enhancing the well-being of employees working remotely.

Subjective assessment of occupational stress and mental health of nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic period.

Introduction: Health status, sickness absence, and nurses' attrition have a direct impact on the quality of care provided and patients' health outcomes. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated issues that existed within the Polish healthcare system prior to the pandemic, including staff shortages, low wages, and system inadequacies. The aim of this study was to investigate how nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic period rated the burdensomeness of job characteristics and their mental health status, as well as the correlations between factors directly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and nurses' subjective assessments of job characteristics and mental health. Method: The cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2022, in Poland and involved 796 registered nurses working in hospitals. Results: Despite the pandemic's sweeping societal effects, this research finds limited alteration in nurses' perceptions of job stress and self-assessed mental health. Factors such as contact with infected patients, quarantine, and isolation do not appear to substantially modify mental health perceptions among nurses. Intriguingly, nurses subjected to COVID-19 testing report heightened stress and compromised mental health. Conclusion: The interplay of diverse factors influencing the well-being of nurses is intricately complex. It is advisable to prudently execute interventions and strategies to address the pandemic, aiming to alleviate its potential adverse effects on the mental health of nurses.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK CHARACTERISTICS AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEES.

OBJECTIVE: Aim: To empirically investigate the relationship between work characteristics and subjective well-being of managers and employees in educational organizations. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and Methods: Analysis of work characteristics was done using The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ). The modified BBC Subjective Well-being scale (BBC-SWB) was used to analyze educational staff's well-being. The research data were processed using mathematical statistics: descriptive statistics (mean, std. deviation), Pearson correlation, and independent samples t-test. 345 respondents from the Central region of Ukraine participated in the survey. RESULTS: Results: Although educational staff had a generally positive assessment of work characteristics, there were certain disproportions in their assessments of individual work characteristics: work autonomy characteristics were rated lower than task characteristics, while social characteristics and work context characteristics were rated lower than knowledge characteristics. In addition, educational organization managers rated the vast majority of work characteristics higher than employees, which suggests a more favorable organizational environment for managers than employees. There were three work characteristics groups in the context of their associations with staff's subjective well-being: 1) work characteristics that had a positive statically significant relationship with both managers and employees' subjective well-being indicators; 2) work characteristics that had positive and negative statistically significant relationships with employees' subjective well-being indicators; 3) work characteristics that had positive and negative statistically significant relationships with managers' subjective well-being indicators. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The obtained findings may be helpful for managers and employees of educational organizations in promoting staff's subjective well-being and increasing educational organizations' effectiveness.

Investigating the effect of intelligent assistance systems on motivational work characteristics in assembly.

Intelligent assistance systems (IAS) are designed to counteract rising cognitive demands caused by increasingly individualized manufacturing processes in assembly. How IAS affect work characteristics which are crucial for promoting work motivation of employees is yet unclear. Based on the cyber-physical systems transformation framework, the model of routine-biased technological change, and a comprehensive model of work design, we expected in- and decreases in motivational work characteristics (MWC) when working with IAS. Furthermore, we posited a buffering effect of the option of voluntary use on decreasing knowledge characteristics. Applying an online case study with experimental vignette methodology (EVM) allowed us to identify effects of the IAS on MWC before it is widely implemented. 203 German and British blue-collar workers evaluated an assembly workplace according to three experimental conditions (work without IAS, work with IAS, work with voluntary use of IAS). We identified enhanced feedback from the job and information processing in work with IAS in contrast to a traditional assembly workplace but found no restrictions (or elevations) in terms of other task (i.e., autonomy) or knowledge characteristics (i.e., job complexity, problem solving, specialization, skill variety). Thus, our results indicate that the IAS improves some motivational work characteristics of the assembly workplace, although it misses the primary goal of cognitive relief. Our study highlights the need for work design theories that specify the effect of IAS on motivational work characteristics and the potential benefit of IAS in assembly of the future. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10845-023-02086-4.

The Predictive Validity of the Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Questionnaire With Regard to Onset of Depressive Disorders and Long-Term Sickness Absence.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the predictive validity of 32 measures of the Danish Psychosocial Work Environment Questionnaire (DPQ) against two criteria variables: onset of depressive disorders and long-term sickness absence (LTSA). METHODS: The DPQ was sent to 8958 employed individuals in 14 job groups of which 4340 responded (response rate: 48.4%). Depressive disorders were measured by self-report with a 6-month follow-up. LTSA was measured with a 1-year follow-up in a national register. We analyzed onset of depressive disorders at follow-up using logistic regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and job group, while excluding respondents with depressive disorders at baseline. We analyzed onset of LTSA with Cox regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and job group, while excluding respondents with previous LTSA. RESULTS: The general pattern of the results followed our hypotheses as high job demands, poorly organized working conditions, poor relations to colleagues and superiors, and negative reactions to the work situation predicted onset of depressive disorders at follow-up and onset of LTSA during follow-up. Analyzing onset of depressive disorders and onset of LTSA, we found risk estimates that deviated from unity in most of the investigated associations. Overall, we found higher risk estimates when analyzing onset of depressive disorders compared with onset of LTSA. CONCLUSIONS: The analyses provide support for the predictive validity of most DPQ-measures. Results suggest that the DPQ constitutes a useful tool for identifying risk factors for depression and LTSA in the psychosocial work environment.

Psychosocial work characteristics and low back pain in daycare (nursery) workers in Japan: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common musculoskeletal problems affecting daycare (nursery) workers. We aimed to identify the psychosocial factors influencing LBP in daycare workers. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study with a one-year observation period. The baseline sample was a convenience sample of 444 daycare workers from 34 daycare facilities in Nagoya, Japan, and its suburbs. All the data were collected through a questionnaire survey. The question "Where are you currently feeling LBP?" was used to determine whether the subjects suffered from LBP. We examined the prospective relationships of the psychosocial work characteristics, i.e., high job strain, low social support, effort-reward imbalance, and overcommitment, at baseline and LBP after one year. We used multiple logistic regression analyses to calculate the odds ratios of psychosocial work characteristics for the persistence and onset of LBP, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, employment status, occupation, and working schedule. RESULTS: At baseline, 270 (60.8%) subjects suffered from LBP. Of 208 who also gave information on LBP one year later, 176 (84.6%) suffered from the persistence of LBP. Low social support at baseline was significantly related to persistent LBP one year later. The incidence of persistent LBP was 89.9% and 80.0% among those with and without low social support at baseline, respectively. The adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of low social support at baseline for the persistence of LBP was 2.43 (1.01-5.87). Of 150 who were without LBP at baseline and provided information on LBP one year later, 45 (30.0%) suffered from the onset of LBP. None of the psychosocial work characteristics showed significant relationships with the onset of LBP one year later. CONCLUSION: Low social support was related to the persistence, but not to the onset of LBP in a prospective cohort analysis among daycare workers in Japan. High job strain, ERI, or overcommitment did not show a significant prospective effect on LBP.

The work design contribution to educational workers' sustainable wellbeing and performance patterns.

Brazilian education faces difficulties relating to performance and illness, suggesting that the characteristics of the work can affect both variables. This study aims to describe the work characteristics that increase the odds of having happy-productive patterns in education workers. A total of 4,598 employees of the Secretariat of Education of the Federal District (SEEDF) participated in the research, answering questionnaires about work design (Brazilian version, with 18 factors), wellbeing (containing three factors), and performance. The results showed that task, social, and contextual characteristics increase the probability of being in the happy-productive pattern, and specifically, Social Support, Feedback from Others, Task Significance, Task Identity, and Autonomy, in this order, should be considered for intervention purposes.

Association between work characteristics and epigenetic age acceleration: cross-sectional results from UK - Understanding Society study.

Occupation-related stress and work characteristics are possible determinants of social inequalities in epigenetic aging but have been little investigated. Here, we investigate the association of several work characteristics with epigenetic age acceleration (AA) biomarkers. The study population included employed and unemployed men and women (n = 631) from the UK Understanding Society study. We evaluated the association of employment and work characteristics related to job type, job stability; job schedule; autonomy and influence at work; occupational physical activity; and feelings regarding the job with four epigenetic age acceleration biomarkers (Hannum, Horvath, PhenoAge, GrimAge) and pace of aging (DunedinPoAm, DunedinPACE). We fitted linear regression models, unadjusted and adjusted for established risk factors, and found the following associations for unemployment (years of acceleration): HorvathAA (1.51, 95% CI 0.08, 2.95), GrimAgeAA (1.53, 95% CI 0.16, 2.90) and 3.21 years for PhenoAA (95% CI 0.89, 5.33). Job insecurity increased PhenoAA (1.83, 95% CI 0.003, 3.67), while working at night was associated with an increase of 2.12 years in GrimAgeAA (95% CI 0.69, 3.55). We found effects of unemployment to be stronger in men and effects of night shift work to be stronger in women. These results provide evidence of associations between unemployment with accelerated ageing and suggest that insecure employment and night work may also increase age acceleration. Our findings have implications for policies relating to current changes in working conditions and highlight the utility of biological age biomarkers in studies in younger populations without long-term health information.

Why do men extend their employment beyond pensionable age more often than women? a cohort study.

Men extend their employment beyond pensionable age more often than women, but the factors that contribute to this sex difference are unknown. This study aimed to examine sex differences in extending employment and the contribution of sociodemographic, work- and health-related factors to these differences. Participants of this prospective cohort study were 4,263 public sector employees from Finland who reached their individual pensionable date between 2014 and 2019 and responded to a survey on work- and non-work-related issues before that date. Extended employment was defined as continuing working for over six months beyond the individual pensionable date. We used mediation analysis to examine the contribution of explanatory factors to the association between sex and extended employment. Of the participants, 29% extended employment beyond the pensionable date. Men had a 1.29-fold (95% confidence interval 1.11-1.49) higher probability of extending employment compared with women. Men had a higher prevalence of factors that increase the likelihood of extended employment than women (such as spouse working full-time, no part-time retirement, low job strain, high work time control, and lack of pain) and this mediated the association of sex with extended employment by up to 83%. In conclusion, men were more likely to extend their employment beyond pensionable age than women. This difference was largely explained by men being more likely to have a full-time working spouse, low job strain, high work time control, no pain, and not being on part-time retirement. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00663-1.

Persian version of the work design questionnaire: measurement of its psychometric characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Work design questionnaire (WDQ), as a comprehensive and integrative tool, is one of the most important instruments frequently used to assess work characteristics. The aim of this study was to measure the psychometric characteristics of the Persian version of WDQ. METHODS: Translation and cross-cultural adaptation procedures were applied in translating the original WDQ into Persian. A total of 270 participants participated in this study. The validity of the questionnaire were measured using face validity, content validity, convergent validity, and construct validity based on confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was assessed through internal consistency. RESULTS: Mean content validity index was 0.95. The CFA results indicated support for a 21-factor solution. There were significant correlations between dimensions of WDQ and both job satisfaction and perceived stress. Cronbach's alpha of all items was 0.87. CONCLUSION: Results indicated that the WDQ exhibited very good psychometric properties and can be applied as a useful tool to assess work characteristics among Iranian employees. Accordingly, the authors recommend its administration in future studies. The work characteristics was significantly associated with job satisfaction and job stress. Therefore, improved work design would reduce negative consequences, such as job stress, and increase positive behaviors, such as job satisfaction.

Electronic health record implementation and healthcare workers' work characteristics and autonomous motivation-a before-and-after study.

BACKGROUND: Technological innovation in healthcare is often assumed to contribute to the quality of care. However, the question how technology implementation impacts healthcare workers has received little empirical attention. This study investigates the consequences of Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation for healthcare workers' autonomous work motivation. These effects are further hypothesized to be mediated by changes in perceived work characteristics (job autonomy and interdependence). Additionally, a moderating effect of profession on the relationship between EHR implementation and work characteristics is explored. METHODS: A quantitative uncontrolled before-and-after study was performed among employees from a large university medical centre in the Netherlands. Data were analysed following the component approach for testing a first stage moderated mediation model, using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE). RESULTS: A total of 456 healthcare workers (75 physicians, 154 nurses, 145 allied healthcare professionals, and 82 administrative workers) finished both the baseline and the follow-up survey. After EHR implementation, perceived job autonomy decreased, whereas interdependence increased. In line with our hypothesis, job autonomy was positively associated with autonomous motivation. In contrast to our expectations, interdependence also showed a positive association with autonomous motivation. Autonomous motivation was stable over the course of EHR implementation. This study did not provide support for a moderating effect of profession: no differences were observed between the various professions regarding the changes in their experienced job autonomy and interdependence after EHR implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that healthcare professionals' perceptions of their work characteristics, but not their autonomous motivation, were changed after EHR implementation, and that these experiences were relatively similar for physicians, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals. The stability of healthcare workers' autonomous motivation may be explained by the opposite effects of decreased job autonomy and increased interdependence, and by the EHR being in line with healthcare workers' values. The changes in job autonomy and interdependence may have consequences beyond motivation, for example by affecting clinical decision-making, proactive behaviour, and the quality of teamwork. These potential consequences of EHR implementation warrant further research.

Gender Differences in Insomnia and Role of Work Characteristics and Family Responsibilities Among Healthcare Workers in Taiwanese Tertiary Hospitals.

Background: Insomnia is common among healthcare workers (HCWs), especially those working in tertiary hospitals. This study aimed to clarify whether gender differences in insomnia could be explained by gender differences in work characteristics and family responsibilities among HCWs in tertiary hospitals in Taiwan. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 22 departments of two tertiary hospitals in Northern Taiwan from December 2018 to March 2019. All data were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire given when participants underwent annual health check-ups. Insomnia was evaluated using the Chinese Athens Insomnia Scale. Work characteristics and family responsibilities were as follows: department, working hours, shift work, visual display terminals used at work, demand-control-support model, burnout level, breadwinner status, living conditions, and caregiver status. Data of 2,811 participants (317 men, 11.3%; 2,494 women, 88.7%) were analyzed (response rate: men, 85%; women, 88%). Logistic regression analysis examined howwork characteristics and family responsibilities explained gender differences in insomnia. Results: The prevalence of insomnia in women (61.7%) was significantly higher than that in men (52.7%), and gender differences strengthened after adjusting for work characteristics and family responsibilities [odds ratio: 1.45 (1.11-1.90) and 1.62 (1.18-2.22), p < 0.01]. Stratified analyses revealed that significant gender differences were found among HCWs with comparatively unfavorable work and family conditions. Furthermore, women had a higher association of insomnia owing to these factors. Conclusion: These results suggest that gender differences in insomnia among HCWs are mainly explained by gender differences in work characteristics and family responsibilities.

Association Among Work Characteristics, Role Transition, and Job Burnout in Nurse Practitioners in Taiwan.

Workplace burnout is common among nurse practitioners (NPs) and often occurs during role transition from a registered nurse to an NP. This study aimed to explore the predictors of job burnout in nurse practitioners (NPs). A quantitative cross-sectional design was conducted on 361 convenience sample of NPs from four hospitals in central Taiwan. Data on the demographic and working characteristics (hospital grade, years of experience as an RN and NP, practice setting, working shifts, working hours, average number of patients take care, salary, and performance bonus), Chinese version of the Nurse Practitioner Role Transition Scale, and Occupational Burnout Inventory were used. The enrolled NPs showed medium-level role transition scores (mean = 65.73, SD = 9.59), and the prevalence of personal burnout, client-related burnout, and over-commitment was 51.2%, 19.4%, and 49.9%, respectively. Role transition, hospital grade, practice setting, working hours, and number of patients take care were significant predictors of personal burnout, client-related burnout, and over-commitment after adjusting for cofounding variables, possibly explaining 52.8%, 42.1%, and 36.3% of variance, respectively. Hospital administrators should provide necessary assistance to help NPs transition to new role and ensure a positive work environment and reasonable workload so as to prevent the impact of job burnout on NPs.

The Mediating Effects of Work Characteristics on the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Employee Well-Being: A Meta-Analytic Investigation.

Evidence points to an indirect relationship between transformational leadership (TFL) and employee well-being, and numerous work characteristics have been identified as mediators. However, the relative mediating effect of different types of job resources and job demands on the TFL-well-being relationship remains unclear, rendering it impossible to determine which ones are the most influential. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relative mediation potential of different work characteristics in the TFL-well-being relationship in multiple three-level meta-analytical structural equation models of 243 samples. Based on the JD-R Model, this study extends this theoretical framework by suggesting TFL as a predisposing variable that influences both job resources and job demands, leading to changes in indicators of both positive and negative employee well-being. The results show that, while all the examined job resources and demands mediated the TFL-well-being relationship, organizational resources were identified as the strongest mediators. Furthermore, job demands had a strong mediating effect on the relationship between TFL and negative well-being, while job resources more strongly mediated TFL and positive well-being. We present a differentiated picture of how transformational leaders can influence their employees' well-being at the workplace, providing valuable knowledge for future research and practice.

Testing a model of Thai nurses' intent to stay in employment.

AIM: To test the causal model of intent to stay in employment of nurses in regional medical centers. BACKGROUND: Effectiveness and quality of nursing care are determined by an adequate number of nursing staff; however, there is an ongoing challenge of nursing shortage. Improving nurses' intention to remain in employment is an effective way to address the problem of nursing shortage. METHODS: This study employed a cross-sectional design. The sample was 1224 registered nurses from nine regional medical centers across Thailand, selected using multistage random sampling. Data were collected between January and July 2019 and analyzed with structural equation modeling. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The final model could explain 40.3% of the variance in intent to stay. Transformational leadership, coworker support, professional autonomy, opportunities for promotion, marital status, and job satisfaction positively affected intent to stay, while burnout negatively affected intent to stay. This indicates that seven factors that should be considered by nurse managers in developing a framework for constructing interventions to increase nurses' intention to continue working in their organization. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING AND NURSING POLICY: Nurse managers should strengthen the intent to stay of nurses by providing consultations, building a positive work atmosphere, and encouraging nurse leaders to apply transformational leadership behaviors to the organizational administration. Policymakers should consider enacting policies and regulations for nurses' benefits, such as allocating civil servant positions to temporary nursing staff, expanding the framework of career advancement to a senior professional position, and considering salary and overtime pay, to increase nurses' intent to stay in an organization.

Are Work Demand, Support and Control Associated with Work Ability and Disability during Back Pain Treatment? A Prospective Explorative Study.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain is a multifactorial disease with consequences for work ability and social participation. Improved integration of the work domain in health care management is needed. The aim of this study was to explore the relation between working conditions with outcome of low back pain treatment. METHODS: Observational study of 41 patients attending physiotherapy for low back pain. Work demands, support and control were registered at baseline and work ability and disability also at baseline, with follow up after three and nine months. We used mixed-effects models to estimate the longitudinal associations between working conditions and outcome. RESULTS: Higher work demands were related to reduced work ability (-1.1 points, 95% CI: -2.1 to -0.1) and slightly increased disability (5.6 points, 95% CI: 0.5 to 10.7). Lack of social support from colleagues was associated with reduced work ability (-2.7 points, 95% CI: -0.2 to 1.5) and disability (14.0 points, 95% CI: 4.9 to 23.1). CONCLUSIONS: This explorative study found associations between work demands and support, and work ability and disability outcome. Screening for psychosocial working conditions may influence the work ability and disability treatment outcome. The results need replication in larger samples and may indicate that patients seeking primary care management for low back pain should be screened for work demands, support and control.

Women's employment and Children's education: Longitudinal evidence from Nepal.

This study examines how maternal employment is related to children's school enrollment in rural Nepal. Using the Chitwan Valley Family Study we combine over 30 years (1974-2008) of yearly data on mother's employment and their children's education. Results reveal heterogeneity by gender, social status, and type of work. Children from historically disadvantaged social groups were more likely to be in school when their mothers started working. This was largely driven by mothers with jobs that allowed them to more easily combine work and family tasks (i.e., those self-employed in the home). In fact, maternal self-employment outside the home was associated with boys dropping out of school. Additionally, we find evidence that some of the observed relationship between maternal wage labor and children's school enrollment is due to household-level selection effects on mother's work.

Relationships between Agile Work Practices and Occupational Well-Being: The Role of Job Demands and Resources.

Agile work practices have been adopted by most software development organizations and by many large organizations from other industries. The introduction of agile work practices is assumed to positively affect work characteristics and, in turn, well-being of employees. So far, there is only very little and methodologically limited empirical research on this topic. Based on job demands-resources theory, we developed and tested a model on the direct and indirect relationships between agile work practices, job demands and resources, and occupational well-being. Data were provided by 260 employees working in agile development teams who participated in two surveys that were approximately six weeks apart. Results of structural equation modeling provided support for the hypothesized model, suggesting that agile work practices have a negative indirect effect on emotional fatigue through lower job demands. At the same time, agile work practices also had a positive indirect effect on emotional engagement through higher job resources. Our research contributes to the literature by integrating agile work practices with job demands-resources theory, bridging an important gap between research and practice. Overall, the findings suggest that the implementation of agile work practices may have a positive impact on occupational well-being by improving employees' perceptions of key work characteristics.

Work characteristics and occupational health: validation and proposalof a shortened version of the Work Design Questionnaire

El interés por el estudio de las características del trabajo para explicar cómo la relación de un individuo con el entorno laboral puede conducir a respuestas desadaptativas ha cobrado una importancia renovada a la luz de la creciente preocupación por el desarrollo de organizaciones saludables y por la diversidad organizacional. Este estudio tiene como objetivo desarrollar una versión abreviada del Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ) con el fin de facilitar su uso e interpretación en este contexto. Las propiedades psicométricas de este cuestionario reducido se probaron en una muestra multisectorial de trabajadores en España. Para ello, aplicamos el cuestionario a una muestra de 500 trabajadores y analizamos la relación entre las carácterísiticas del trabajo y las variables seleccionadas de salud ocupacional (satisfacción, bienestar y agotamiento emocional). Los resultados mostraron una fiabilidad y una validez orientada al criterio adecuadas para la versión abreviada del WDQ, esto es, el WDQ18-S, así como evidencia de invarianza factorial de género. Posteriormente se discuten los resultados y sus implicaciones para el uso del WDQ en el ámbito aplicado e investigador de la salud ocupacional y la prevención de riesgos laborales.(AU)

Interest in the study of work characteristics to explain how an individual's relationship with the work environment can lead to maladap-tive responses has taken on renewed importance in the light of increasing concern for the development of healthy organizations and organizational diversity. This study aims to develop a shortened version of the Work De-sign Questionnaire (WDQ) with a view to facilitating its use and interpreta-tion. The psychometric properties of this shorter questionnaire were tested in a multi-sectoral sample of workers in Spain, with due consideration giv-en to the gender measurementinvariance. For this purpose, we applied the questionnaire to a sample of 500 workers and analyzed the relationship be-tween the answers provided to WDQ and specific occupational health var-iables (satisfaction, well-being and emotional exhaustion). Results showed adequate reliability and criterion-oriented validity for the shortened version of the WDQ, that is, the WDQ18-S, as well as evidence of factorial invari-ance across gender. We then discuss the results and their implications for the application of theWDQ in further research and the field of occupa-tional health and psychosocial risks prevention.(AU)