Measuring precarious employment in Sweden: translation, adaptation and psychometric properties of the Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES).

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:Precarious employment (PE) is a determinant of poor health and health inequality. However, the evidence of health consequences and mechanisms underlying the associations, are still limited due to a lack of a comprehensive multidimensional definition and measurement instrument. The Employment Precariousness Scale (EPRES) is a Spanish, multidimensional scale, developed to measure degree of PE. The aim of this study was to translate the EPRES-2010 into Swedish, adapt it to the Swedish context and to assess the psychometric properties of the Swedish EPRES. METHOD:EPRES was translated, adapted and implemented for data collection within the research project PRecarious EMployment in Stockholm (PREMIS). During 2016-2017, questionnaire data were collected from 483 non-standard employees in Stockholm, Sweden, sampled with web-based respondent-driven sampling. Analyses included item descriptive statistics, scale descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS:The final EPRES-Se (Swedish version of the EPRES),consisted of six dimensions and 23 items. There was a high response rate to all items and response options. Global Cronbach's alpha was 0.83. Subscales 'vulnerability', 'rights' and 'exercise rights' had reliability coefficients between ?=0.78-0.89 and item-subscale correlations between r=0.48-0.78. 'Temporariness' had poor reliability (?=-0.08) and inter-item correlation (r=-0.04), while 'disempowerment' showed acceptable psychometric properties (?=0.5; r=0.34). Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the original EPRES factor structure. CONCLUSIONS:'Vulnerability', 'wages', 'rights', 'exercise rights' and 'disempowerment' worked in the Swedish context; however, 'temporariness' would need revising before implementing the EPRES-Se in further research. Continued work and validation of EPRES-Se is encouraged. In order to enable international comparisons and multinational studies, similar studies in other European countries are also called for.

SUBMITTER: Jonsson J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6773301 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature