The Regret Coping Scale for Health-Care Professionals (RCS-HCP): A validation study with Danish social educators

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Pihl-Thingvad, Jesper^{a; b; c; *} | Jacobsen, Casper Wichmann^b | Brandt, Lars P.A.^{a; d} | Andersen, Lars L.^{e; f} | Elklit, Ask^b | Courvoisier, Delphine^g

Affiliations: [a] Department of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark | [b] National Center of Psychotraumatology, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark | [c] OPEN Odense Patient Explorative Network, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark | [d] Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark | [e] National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark | [f] Physical Activity and Human Performance Group, SMI, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark | [g] Department of General Internal Medicine, Rehabilitation, and Geriatrics, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Jesper Pihl-Thingvad, Department of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Odense University Hospital, Kløvervænget 3, entrance 138, 5000 Odense C, Denmark. Tel.: +45 6541 4990; Fax: +45 65 41 49 88; E-mail: jesper.pihl-thingvad@rsyd.dk.

Abstract: BACKGROUND:Coping with regret has a substantial impact on wellbeing and mental health, but has rarely been investigated in an occupational setting. OBJECTIVE:To translate the Regret Coping Scale for Health-Care Professionals (RCS-HCP) and explore internal consistency, construct-, criterion- and predictive validity. METHODS:The instrument was translated using forward- back method. The qualities were evaluated with a sample of 2758 social educators using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis as well as Cronbach’s alpha, Pearson correlation, and multivariable regression. RESULTS:The translated instrument showed a trend similar to the original instrument. A 10-item version resulted from the research being reported. The reduced RCS-HCP showed improved fit (Full model, 15 items); CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.89, RMSEA = 0.66, PClose = 0.000 and BIC = 1392 vs. (Reduced instrument, 10 items); CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.05, PClose = 0.499 and BIC 307. This instrument had acceptable internal consistency for short scales (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.65, 0.69 and 0.84 respectively). The subscales correlated as expected with measures of health and occupational factors, coefficient ranging from 0.182 to 0.399. Also, the RCS-HCP predicted stress three month later ΔF[3,2747] = 15.1, p < 0.001, but with very small effect ΔR2 = 0.01, p≤0.001. CONCLUSIONS:The 10-item Danish version of the RCS-HCP is a valid instrument for measuring coping with regret in health related work.

Keywords: Instrument validation, occupational health, work environment

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-182756

Journal: Work, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 401-410, 2018