Psychometric properties of unemployment syndrome scale and relevance to clinical practice.

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the newly completed unemployment syndrome scale (USS). Using a cross-sectional descriptive design, 319 long-term unemployed people completed a questionnaire. Internal consistency reliability was supported by Cronbach's α value of .912 for the total scale. To assess the construct validity of the USS, we examined convergent validity, known-groups validity, and exploratory factor analysis. We also assessed convergent validity by examining the relationship between the USS and five other related and known concepts. The Exploratory Factor Analysis performed on the USS extracted three factors with Eigen values >1 (Kaiser's Criterion), which explained the variability of 55.16%. As hypothesized, all correlations were moderate. On the other hand, regarding known-groups validity, the hypotheses were validated. This evidence of the reliability and validity of USS supports its use in research and clinical practice to evaluate the impact of long-term unemployment and its treatment. The USS is a Spanish clinical tool for the assessment of patients with unemployment syndrome symptoms and integral needs care by nursing professionals.