Documents validation 15 results

"The objective of the study was to investigate the content, criterion, and construct validity of a single-item measure of stress symptoms. Such a concise measure would be useful in monitoring stress at work. The criteria for validity were convergence with conceptionally close measures, the plausibility of associations with health and work characteristics, and the power to discriminate between groups.The stress-symptoms item showed satisfactory content, criterion and construct validity for group-level analysis. It is suggested that the longer scales used to measure psychological stress can be replaced with it in survey research."

"This article responds to criticisms that affective job satisfaction research suffers serious measurement problems: Noncomparable measures; studies conceptualizing job satisfaction affectively but measuring it cognitively; and ad hoc measures lacking systematic development and validation, especially across populations by nationality, job level, and job type. We address these problems through a series of qualitative (total N = 28) and quantitative (total N = 901) studies to systematically develop and validate a short affective job satisfaction measure ultimately deriving from Brayfield and Rothe's (1951) job satisfaction index. Unlike any previous job satisfaction measure, the resulting four-item Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction is overtly affective, minimally cognitive, and optimally brief. The new measure also differs from any previous job satisfaction measure in being comprehensively validated not just for internal consistency reliability, temporal stability, convergent and criterion-related validities, but also for cross-population invariance by nationality, job level, and job type."

"This book presents, in a European perspective, a comprehensive survey of practices and issues arising in the area of validation of non-formal and informal learning (NFIL). The survey is based on updated results of a project conducted in 2011 and 2012 for the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) by a team from Groupe ALPHA with funding from the European Commission's Employment DG. In a context where the dynamic management of vocational pathways and transitions has been attracting increasing attention, NFIL recognition can benefit a wide range of social groups, in particular the most vulnerable. After a survey of the main NFIL issues and diverse national experiences as regards validation, the book describes these issues in the context of European challenges and policies on education and training, drawing attention to common problems encountered in implementing NFIL validation frameworks and processes, as well as to specific instances of successful implementation programmes. Also broached are the issues of collective bargaining and tripartite dialogue on NFIL validation. Detailed national surveys on the challenges and initiatives of NFIL validation cover a total of ten European countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. A concluding chapter proposes a set of specific actions designed to improve the visibility of, and access to, NFIL validation"

"This paper describes the requirements and resulting challenges for the implementation of current and upcoming European Union legislation referring to the use of nanomaterials in food, cosmetics and other consumer products. The European Commission has recently adopted a recommendation for the definition of nanomaterials. There is now an urgent need for appropriate and fit-for-purpose analytical methods in order to identify nanomaterials properly according to this definition and to assess whether or not a product contains nanomaterials. Considering the lack of such methods to date, this paper elaborates on the challenges of the legislative framework and the type of methods needed, not only to facilitate implementation of labelling requirements, but also to ensure the safety of products coming to the market. Considering the many challenges in the analytical process itself, such as interaction of nanoparticles with matrix constituents, potential agglomeration and aggregation due to matrix environment, broad variety of matrices, etc., there is a need for integrated analytical approaches, not only for sample preparation (e.g. separation from matrix), but also for the actual characterisation. Furthermore, there is an urgent need for quality assurance tools such as validated methods and (certified) reference materials, including materials containing nanoparticles in a realistic matrix (food products, cosmetics, etc.)."

"A long duration of computer use is known to be positively associated with Work Related Upper Extremity Disorders (WRUED). Self-report by questionnaire is commonly used to assess a worker's duration of computer use. The aim of the present study was to assess the validity of self-report and computer use software (WorkPace®) to assess the duration of computer use in a heterogeneous office population and for different job types. Ninety-nine bank employees with various job titles participated in the study. The duration of computer use was assessed simultaneously by self-report (questionnaire), WorkPace® and direct observation. Observation was regarded as the golden standard. On average, self-reports overestimated the observed duration of computer use with 39%. This overestimation was reduced to 9% when using WorkPace®. Viewing times (time viewing the screen without touching mouse or keyboard) differed between computer jobs. It was concluded that computer use statistics yield rather accurate estimations of duration of computer use, whereas self-reports do not. These estimations can be further improved by using specific viewing time estimations for different computer jobs."

"The present study tests the validity of work posture questions derived from the 1998 Québec Health and Social Survey and administered to 92 factory, laundry, hospital, and blue collar public service workers in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Subjects who had usually stood during their workday reported retrospectively on their mobility: usual movement within a 1-m radius; within a 5-m radius; over 5 m. They were also asked whether they could sit down at will, occasionally or never. Observers recorded working posture continuously throughout the workday and also answered the same questions as the workers at the end of the workday. Using observer estimates as the “gold standard”, validity was good for the question on mobility (Cohen's weighted ?=0.60, concordance 70.1%) and for the question on freedom to sit (Cohen's ?=0.72, concordance 85.9%). The response categories for both questions distinguished between different types of exposure to standing, walking and sitting, as measured by the recorded work activity. Self-reports of worker mobility and control over working posture may be a useful addition to questionnaires in studies relating working conditions to musculoskeletal and cardiovascular outcomes, if exposure categories are well defined."