Work analysis tool for higher education: Development and validation of the german student measure WA-S screening.

BACKGROUND Work demands, resources and stressors affecting health, well-being and motivation also exist in the work of university students. There is a shortage of measures for analyzing work characteristics in this setting. OBJECTIVE This article addresses that shortage of measures and describes the development and the validation of the short Work Analysis Measure for Students (WA-S Screening). METHODS In study 1 (N = 422 students in Austria) the final version of the measure was developed based on analyzing the factor structure and psychometric properties of items and scales. Study 2 (N = 333 German-speaking students in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) was conducted for a cross validation and analyzing the criterion validity. RESULTS An eight-scale structure of the WA-S Screening was supported in study 1 and 2. The scales have shown to be significantly associated with burnout and work engagement in study 2. CONCLUSIONS The examinations indicate that the WA-S Screening is a short, reliable and valid instrument to identify critical, health-promoting work characteristics in the context of studying at university.