Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese (mainland) version of Job Content Questionnaire: a study in university hospitals

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese (mainland) version of Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), this validation study was conducted in university hospitals among 193 men and 581 women health care workers. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for decision latitude, psychological job demands and social support ranged from 0.56 to 0.82, which indicated that psychological job demands had lower internal consistency. The decision latitude displayed a negative correlation with psychological job demands and a positive correlation with social support. Exploratory factor analysis showed 3 meaningful factors that could explain the 3 theoretical dimensions of job strain model. Apart from some uncertainty over psychological job demands particularly, it is concluded that the Chinese (mainland) version of JCQ is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring job stressors, and is applicable to Chinese working population.