#0075 Reliability and validity of the Vietnamese version of the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale
Measuring work engagement among nurses: a Vietnamese version of a tried-and-tested tool
In the past few decades, occupational health research has shifted its focus towards positive psychology, which emphasizes positive experiences, events, and personal traits. Work engagement, a positive and fulfilling work-related state of mind, is now under the spotlight as a key factor that promotes health, well-being, and performance among workers.
Among nurses, work engagement has been shown to be related to a higher quality service as well as less stress and job burnout. Unfortunately, the most widely accepted and reliable tool for measuring work engagement, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), has not been used much for nurses in low- or middle-income countries. This is especially problematic in South-East Asia, where the ever-increasing needs of the aging population and the shortage of healthcare workers puts a big load on the shoulders of nurses.
Considering this context, we wanted to explore the validity and reliability of a Vietnamese version of the UWES that we developed, called UWES-9-V. We tested our version of the questionnaire—a carefully crafted translation of the original nine-item UWES—in a sample of 949 registered nurses from a large hospital at Hanoi, Vietnam.
The UWES-9-V contains nine questions that separately quantify vigor, dedication, and absorption, which are the three elements that characterize work engagement. We supplied UWES-9-V alongside other questionnaires and scales that measure variables similar, opposite, or unrelated to work engagement in order to test the reliability, consistency, and validity of our tool.
The results of our statistical analyses all indicate that UWES-9-V is an appropriate instrument to assess work engagement in nurses in Vietnam. The UWES-9-V could also be suitable for measuring work engagement in other occupations, although its reliability and validity should be confirmed first in each case.
Most importantly, our work is one of the first steps towards introducing positive occupational psychology in Vietnam, which will hopefully lead to meaningful interventions to improve worker’s mental health and general well-being.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1348-9585.12157
Title of the paper:
Reliability and validity of the Vietnamese version of the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale
Authors:
Thuy Thi Thu Tran, Kazuhiro Watanabe, Kotaro Imamura, Huong Thanh Nguyen, Natsu Sasaki, Kazuto Kuribayashi, Asuka Sakuraya, Nga Thi Nguyen, Thu Minh Bui, Quynh Thuy Nguyen, Tien Quang Truong, Giang Thi Huong Nguyen, Harry Minas, Akizumi Tsustumi, Akihito Shimazu, and Norito Kawakami
