Development and Reliability of a Questionnaire Assessing Stress, Coping, and Empathy (SCOPE) in Occupational Settings: Preliminary Evidence from Veterinarians

Abstract

Workplaces can be associated with occupational stress, detrimental consequences in terms of loss of health and reduced psychosocial well-being. Importantly, employees may be particularly at risk of poorer well-being during times of adversity at work, when not able to apply adaptive coping strategies and adopt a more empathetic approach. This study aimed to develop a scale to estimate occupational stress both in terms of situational and individual components, by performing item selection, internal reliability assessment, and investigation of the ceiling/floor effect. The target population consisted of veterinarians (n = 116), based on evidence of high risk of occupational stress and related mental distress. Out of twenty initial candidate entries, exploratory factor analysis retained fifteen items consisting of three domains related to occupational stress, copying strategies, and empathy (SCOPE). The SCOPE scale demonstrated good internal consistency as a whole (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.79) and when considering the three subscales (stress, 0.85; coping, 0.77; and empathy, 0.71). On a possible range from 15 (worst adjustment) to 75 (best adjustment), the sample mean performance was 51.68 (SD, 8.50). Preliminary evidence indicated that the SCOPE questionnaire may reveal differential effects of type of work on levels of occupational stress and related coping and empathy skills.