The Romanian Version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire – Short Report

Work related stress represents a characteristic of the present labour market and a health issue for both workers and organisations with major implications at the level of individuals, companies and society at large.As for Romania, according to statistical data published by the European Foundation for Improving the Working and Life Conditions, almost half of the workers in the active organisations of the Romanian labour market declare that their work is stressful. Although stress at work is claimed both by employers and employees, Romania does not have legislation to regulate explicitly at national, sectorial and enterprise level the safety and health at work policies and promote the wellbeing at work in relation to stress generating risks. Further on, the existing legislation does not specifically regulate the identification, evaluation and monitoring of the stress effects on the physical and mental health state. There are no practical validated instruments to identify, evaluate and monitor stress that can be used at the company level. A tool for the assessment of the psychosocial work environment – The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) – was adapted and validated in Romania in order to develop a standardized method to be used in research of the psychosocial factors and to assess the psychosocial work environment in different work areas in Romania.The main objectives of the study, part of a large ergonomic research, were: to adapt and validate the Romanian version of the COPSOQ. Adapting the original questionnaire and developing the Romanian version proved to be a necessary process, which was based on the translation and back translation method.