The need for recovery scale: Adaptation to the Italian context

Abstract Introduction Need for Recovery scale is one of the main scales used to assess work-induced fatigue and quality of workers’ recovery time. In fact, need for recovery is considered relevant as a precursor of prolonged fatigue or psychological distress, an indicator of work stress, and a mediating or moderating characteristic in the etiology of work-related health problems, sick leave and work disability. Objective The purpose of the present study is to translate the Need for Recovery scale into Italian, and to adapt it to Italian culture; until now there has been no comparable valid instrument made for the Italian language that measures the need for recovery of employees. The stability and internal consistency of the scale will be assessed among Italian workers. Method For cross-cultural adaptation, a translation/back-translation method integrated with expert committee review and pre-testing was applied. Three hundred and seventy-eight Italian workers filled out the scale. Results The psychometric properties proved to be good, both in terms of scale homogeneity and internal consistency, for the total sample and for subgroups of Italian employees in terms of gender, age and educational level. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a single factor solution with 44% of the variance explained. Conclusions Results are encouraging for the possibility of using the Need for Recovery scale as a quick and adequate scale to measure early symptoms of work-induced fatigue and quality of Italian workers’ recovery time.