Multidimensional Rasch Analysis of the Arabic Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery Subscales

Abstract

Background and PurposeInvestigation of the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Occupational Fatigue Exhaustion Recovery (A-OFER) subscales.MethodsPartial credit model (PCM) analyses of 2037 Lebanese nurses' responses to the chronic fatigue (CF), acute fatigue (AF), and intershift recovery (IR) subscales.ResultsThe data were a better fit to the three-dimensional Rasch PCM; difference, χ2 = 2199.3, df = 5, p = .01; unidimensional Akaike information criterion (AIC) = 107355; multidimensional AIC = 105166. Rating categories were disordered and there was item dependence among negatively-keyed items. All items were free of subgroup bias. Inter-subscale correlations were contrary to expectations.ConclusionThe CF subscale has sufficient reliability for screening nurses in Lebanon and the Eastern Mediterranean region for low to moderate levels of occupational fatigue. The construct validity of the A-OFER requires further investigation.