[The Maugeri Stress Index: a questionnaire to assess work-related psychological stress].

INTRODUCTION

The European directives concerning the evaluation of work-related stress were absorbed into Italian law by means of Legislative Decree No. 81 of 9 April 2008.

AIMS

To develop a new questionnaire to assess the impact of work-related psychological distress and to validate it by testing its factorial structure, its content, its construct and discriminant validity.

METHODS

After critically reviewing the literature, we generated an initial item set to identify the items to be used in a preliminary version of the questionnaire, and then used a focus group to test the comprehensibility of the items. The questionnaire was administered to 329 subjects working in state and private organisation and a small sample of 29 subjects complaining of vexation at work.

RESULTS

The Maugeri Stress Index (MSI) is reliable (Cronbach alpha: 0.93). Factorial analysis indicated five factors: Well-being, Adaptation, Support, Irritability and Avoidance. The total and subscale scores were significantly different when comparing subjects with and without vexation at work.

CONCLUSION

The MSI has a multi-factorial structure, good internal reliability and sufficient discriminant power.