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Reliability and validity of the Occupational Stress Scale for Chinese off‐shore
oil installation workers

Article  in  Stress and Health · April 2001

DOI: 10.1002/smi.898

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 Ot S t r e s sa n d H e a l t h
Cl D\ Stressand Health 17:175-"183 \2001)
DOI: 10.1002/smi.898

Reliability and validity of the

0 c c u p a t i o n a l S t r e s sS c a l e f o r
C h i n e s eo f f - s h o r e o i l
installation workers
Wei-QingChen,Tze-Vai Wong* f and Tak-SunYu

Departmentof Community& FamilyMedicine,The ChineseUniversityof Hong Kong,

Shatin,New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China

Summary
To eualuatethe ualidity and reliability of the Occupational StressScale(OSS)for Chineseoff-sboreoil
workers, a total of 561 subjectsr.uereinteruiewedusing a self-administercdquestionnairedeueloped
from Cooper's. Using factor analysis,we identified nine factors, ubich explained 62.5 per cent of
the total uariance.Cronbacb'salphas were 0.97 for the total scale,and 0.72 to 0.91 for subscales.
Resubsof the splirhalf reliability test for tbe OSSindicated that the correlation behueentwo parts
uas 0.87. Signifcant differencesin the scoresof the fue subscalesuere obseruedamong the different
iob categoriesadjusting for confoundingfactors. Hierarchical mubiple regressionanalysisindicated
that tbe score of the OSStuassignifcantly and positiuelyassociatedruitb the poor mental heahb of
tbe tuorkers-ln conclusion, tbe OSSis a ualid and reliable tool for measuringoccupational stress.
Copyrigbt A 2001 lohn Wiley dr Sons,Ltd.

Key Words with 50 to 80 per cent of all diseasesbeing

occupationalstress; ualidity; reliabiliry
; off-shore
oil worker
Introduction
In developed countries, occupational stress has
often been thought of as one of the most serious
occupational hazards of the modern society.l 3
'Work-related
stress affects the employees' health,
* Correspondenceto: ProfessorTze-Wai Wong, Depart-
ment of Community Health & Family Medicine,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 4/F., Lek
Yuen Health Centre, Shatin, New Territories, Hong
Kong SAR, China. Tel: +852 26928777. Fax: *852-
260635000.
f E mail: twwong@cuhk.edu.hk
Copyright O 2001 John'Wiley & Sons,Ltd.
psychosomaticor srress-relatedin nature.4 In
addition, job-relatedstresscan causeorganizational
problems of job dissatisfaction,burn-out, high
absenteeism,low organizational commitment and
marginal job performance.s9 Moreover, the cost
of work-related stresshas been increasingrapidly
in industrialized countries. For example, losses
to the economy associatedwith job stress were
estimatedto be $ 150 billion per year in the United
States.l In the United Kingdom, it is estimated
that around .f 1.3 billion is lost through stress-
related absenteeismand staff turnover, with an
estimated total cost, through lost production,
sickness absence/payand treatment of around
{ 7 billion per annum.lo
Off-shore oil production is widely regarded
as a stressful profession. Workers on off-shore
oil drilling rigs or production installations are
exposed to many psychosocial stressors which
Receiued7 Aplil 2000
Accepted 3 Jantery 2001
W-Q. Chen,T-'!7.Wong andT-S.Yu

might produce negativeeffectson their health, Sublectsand methods

safery,lifestyle,as well as their family life.11-16
Many psvchosocialstressorsof offshoreoil and Subjeds
gas industryare similar to thosein the oil indus^
try on-shore:factorsintrinsicto the job, role-based Respondentsin this study lvere workers in an
stress,relationshipwith othersin the work, career off-shoreoil companyin SouthernChina, which
development, organizational emplovedabout 1100 maleoff-shoreworkerswho
structureand climate,
the interfaceberweenhome and work.14-17In worked on oil platforms.Accordingto the work
schedule,the off-shore workers were required to
a d d i r i o n .r h e s p e c i a lw o r k e n v i r o n m e nar r s e a .
far away from the family and the usual social work continuously for 1 month on the platform
environmenr.posesirs own specialstressorsnot in the sea, and then rest on-shorefor the next
found in the on-shore oil industry. Theseinclude month, followed by another month of off-shore
socialisolation,a confinedwork and living environ- work. At any given time, about 50 per cent of
ment, hazardsfrom changingweather(e,g.rough workers would be restingon land. Our study was
seas,strong winds and heavy rain), the danger- conducted on all off-shore workers during their
ous helicoptertravel which is necessary, resting cycle of the work scheduleon land (about
and so
on.14 17,25 50 per centof total workforce).A self-administered
China has been rapidly developingits off-shore questionnaire,which included demographictraits,
oil and gasproduction in the past decades,and the duration of off-sbore work and iob title, rhe
industryemploysseveralthousandworkerswork- Occupational Stress Scale, aad the abbreuiated
ing on off-shore installations for oil and gas pro- uersion of tbe General Health Questionnaire-I2
duction.'Whatare the major psychosocial stressors (GHQ-12, containing 12 items),3zwas given to
among Chineseoff-shore oil installation workers? 581 workers.A total of 551 (95.5percent)workers
Do they differ from those in the West? And how completedthe whole questionnaire.
do thesestressorsaffect their health? Few studies Based on the job traits, the off-shore work-
in this field have beenreportedin recentyearsin ers were divided into 12 occupationalgroups.
China, althoughsuch studieson the influencesof Thesewere:drillingworkers(manipulating drilling
off-shoreoil production on workers'health have machine),attendingpersonnel(operatingproduc
beenreportedin developedcountries,especially in tion equipment),deck'ivorkers(maintainingthe
United Kingdom- Perceivedsourcesof stresswere cleanliness (maintainingelec-
of deck),electricians
relatedto characteristics relatedto the iob {such trical system),mechanics(testingand repairing
as profession,grade, climate, and specificjob con- facilities), service workers (food service, clean-
tent and site),to the individual (suchas degreeof ing serviceof living quarters and laundry work),
training,personality,and sociodemographic char- managers (responsible for production manage-
acteristics).and to the home/workinteraction.2T-30 ment),materialworkers (handlingmaterialsneeded
The offshoreoil and gascompaniesof China havea for production), power workers (operatingpower
unique climate, economy,culture, and work orga- machines), derrickworkers(workingon derricks),
nization and mana€iement, and working population turbineworkers(manipulatingturbines),and oth-
with Chinesecultural background.How do Chinese ers (providingother services, suchas medicaland
off-shoreoil and gas installation workers perceive hygieneservice,radio and telephoneservice,etc.).
stressassociatedwith their job? Are they different
from their counterparts in western countries?To The Occupational StressSca/e (O55)
addresstheseissues,an instrument that is theoret- for off -shore platform workers in
ically sound,methodologically valid, and actually Chi na : i nstrument deve Iop ment
applicablein practiceis needed.Basedon Cooper's
researchon occupational stress among off-shore Basedon a literature review and the Occupational
workers in the North Seaof United KingdomlJ lT StressIndicator of Cooper et al.,3r a Chinesever-
and'the OccupationalStressIndicators(OSI)',31 sion of the OccupationalStressScale(OSS)with
tue translated tbe items of occupational stfessofs 50 items for Chineseoff-shoreinstallationworkers
into Chineseand edited the Occupational Stress was developedby us. It had a multidimensional
Scale(OSS)for off-shore installation uorkers. Tbe structure that captured different sourcesof off-
aims of this paper are to evaluatethe validity shore oil work-related stress.A draft was sent to
andreliabiliryof the OSSamongChineseoff-shore eight doctorswho had worked, or were working on
worKers. the platforms in the company.They were askedto

Copyright@2001JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. Stressand Heabb 17: 1.75 -'183 |2001)

 Reliability of the occupationalstressscale

judge eachitem from the questionnaireas followsr high blood lipids, and ckonic liver disease)as
(1)the relevanceto the dimensionof stressthat independentvariableswereenteredat step1, while
it was proposedto measure;(2) the impact of the the scoreof the OSS as an independentvariable
stressitem on workers;and (3)whetherthe ques- was enteredat step2.
tions could be easilyunderstoodby the workers.
They werealso askedto commenton whether these ReI ia b i Iity assess
me nt
itcms were suitable for their company's situation
To evaluate the internal consistency,Cronbach's
and had coveredall stressors experienced by them,
alphasfor the total scaleand the subscalesidentified
and whether any stressorshad not been included.
Revisionsweremadeaccordingto their comments. by factor analysiswerecalculated,and the split-half
reliabiliry test for total scalewas conducted.32
The finalizedversion of the OccuoationalStress
All the statistical analysiswas performed using
SealetOS5rhad 5 | items.and coveiedthe follow-
ing six domains (factorsintrinsic to the iob, career SPSSPC version9.0 (Windows).j6All comparisons
were madeat a significance levelof 0.05.
and achievement,relationshipwith othersat work,
safery,managerialrole, and the interface berween
job and socialand family life).Subjectswereasked
'Are the following itemsyour sourceof stress?',and Results
a 6-point Likert type scalewas usedfor each item, Demographictraitsof subjects
ranging from I (indicating no stress)to 5 (indicat-
ing high stress).(1 : Very definitelyis not a source, A total of 561 (96.6%) workers completedthe
2 : Definitelyis not a source,3: Generallyis not questionnaire.Their socio-demographictraits are
a source,4 : Generallyis a source,5 : Definitely shown in Table L
is a source, 5 : Very definitely is a source).The
subjectswereaskedto choosethe mostsuitableone Validity assessmentof the OSS
out of the six choices.
Construct validity. The resultsof the principal
component analysiswith varimax rotation are
Validity assessment
shown in the Table II. Nine factors (with an
In our study, the {ace validity of the OSS was eigenvalueof >1) were obtained from the OSS
assessedon the basis of the literature review and with 51 items,which explained52.5 per centof the
the eight doctors' commentsas mentionedearlier. variance.Except for three items, the factor loading
Data on the 51 itemsfor measuringoccupational of all othersretainedin eachof the nine factorswas
stressorsrelatedto off-shorework of the 551 cases higherthan 0.40.
were subjected to principal component analysis After rotation, each item loaded strongly onto
followedby a varimaxrotationto aid theevaluation only one facror with three exceptions,sugBesting
of the constructvalidity of the instrument.33'34 that the nine constructswere relativelydistinct. The
A score for each subject on each factor was item 'working in an all-male environment' loaded
calculated by summing the original value of the onto factor 1 and 9 with factor loadingsof 0.515
'monotonous
items loading under each factor. Associations and 0.451, respectively.The item
betweeneachfactor identifiedby the factor analysis and full off-shore living working environment'
and occupational groups of type of work were loaded mostly onto factor 1 with a factor loading
examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA) of 0.508, but also onto factor 3 with a factor
and analysisof covariance(ANCOVA) controlling loading of 0.401. The item 'disturbancein living
for potential confounding factors, to test the accommodation due to noise from machinery'
differencesfor the score on each factor to aid loaded onto two factors at the same time, with
assessment of the discriminant validity of the a factor loading oI 0.51,7for factor 5, and 0.508
scale. The predictive validity of the OSS was for factor 5.
assessedby testing the relationship between the Items loading onto each of the nine factors
mental health of the subjects(as measuredby respectivelyrepresentedits own coherentpsychoso-
the GHQ-12) and the score of the OSS. Using cial stressorsrelatedwith off-shoreoil work, except
an hierarchicalmultiple regressionanalysis,s5 the for item 9 in factor 3 and item 7 in factor 4. Based
scoreof the GHQ as the dependentvariable,and on the meaning of the items in each factor, nine
socio-demographicvariables and chronic illness 'domains' were identified. Factor 1 (nine items)
(bronchitis,hypertension,diabetes,gastritis, ulcer, was named as 'the interface between iob and

Copyright@2001JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. and Heahh 17: 175- 183 (2001)

Stress
 \7-Q. Chen,T-W. WongandT-S.Yu

Table I. Demographictraits of 551 subjects.

Demographictrairs Number R.rnge

Age (years) 32.43(8.65) 20-60
Total ye.rrsof workrngon plarforms 8.24\7.39) 7-40
Educationlevel
Primary school 28 5.0
Secondaryschool 100 ),7.8
HigVtechnical secondaryschool 278 49_6
Junior college 87 15.5
Universiry 68 1,2.1,
Nlarital status
Unmarried 777 3'1.6
Married 384 68.4
Job title
Drilling workers 103 18.4
Attending personnel 50 10.7
Deck workers 55 9.8
Electricians 41. 7.3
Mechanics 5Z 5.7
Serviceworkers 29 5.2
Manager 41 7.3
Material workers 22 3.9
Power workers 21
Derrick workers 22 3.9
Turbine workers 17 3.0
Other 118 2t.0

family/social life', factor 2 (sevenitems) as 'career
and achievement',factor 3 (nine items) as 'safety',
factor 4 (seven items) as 'management problem
and relationship with others at work', and fac-
tor 5 {threeitems)as 'physicalenvironmentof the
workplace'-Factors6, 7,8 and9 were termedas
'living
environment' (five items), 'managerialrole'
(four items),'ergonomics'(threeitems),and'orga-
nizational structure' (four items),respecrively.
Discriminant validity. Significantdifferencesin
the scoresof tbe fiue subscalesof the OSS were
observed among the workers with different job
titles, when analysedby ANOVA. Thesewere 'rhe
interface between job and family/social life' (fac-
tor 1), 'safety' (factor 3), 'physical environment
of the workplace' (factor 5), 'ergonomics' (fac-
tor 8), and 'organizational structure' (factor 9).
After adjusting for age, educationallevel, marital
status,and total number of yearsof working on the
platforms, we still detectedsignificant differences
with the analysisof covariance(TableIII).
score of the OSS was significantly and positively
associatedwith the poor mental health of the off-
shoreworkers. The model explained 21..6per cent
of the variancesof the mental health.The adiusted
R2rosefrom 0.053at step1 to 0.215at step2. This
impliedthat thescoreofthe OSSexplained15.3 per
c e a t ( 0 . 2 7 5- 0 . 0 5 3 : 0 . 1 5 3 ) o { t h e v a r i a n c eo f
the mental health of the workers, or 75.5 per cent
10.163 /0.216 : 75.5 per cent) of the varianceof
the modeI (Table IV).
Reliability assessmentof the OSS
Table V shows the internal consistencyof each
subscale and the total scale. The Cronbach's
alpha coefficientsfor the nine subscaleswere high,
ranging from 0.72 to 0.97; and the Cronbach's
alpha coefficientsfor the OSSwas 0.97. The split-
half reliability test for the OSS indicated that
the correlation betwecn the two patts was 0.87.
The unequal-lengthSpearman-Brownwas 0.93
(26 itemsin pan 1, 25 itemsin part 2). The alpha
coefficientfor both parts 1 and 2 was 0.94.

Predictive validity. To evaluatethe predictive

validity of the OSS, the association of mental Discussion
health (as measuredby the GHQ-12 items) with
the score of the OSS was tesredwith hierarchical This is the first study of occupational stress in
multiple regression.The results showed that the Chinese off-shore oil installation workers. There

Copyright@2001JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. Snessand Heabb17:175-1.83(20O1]r

 Reliability of the occupationalstressscale

Table II. Structure of the OSSfor Chineseoff-shore installation workers.

Item description (Eigenvalues,varianceproportion) Factor

loading

Factor 1: The interface berweenjob and family/social \fe 119.26,37.76%)

1. Risk of marriage/lovingbreakdown becauseI work off-shore 0.720
2. Leaving my wife/partner to cope with situations at home during my working off shore 0.687
3. My wife's/partner's anitude to my working off-shore 0.687
4. Being afraid that relarionshipwith children will be disturbed by working off-shore for long time 0.651
5. Cannot play family roles while I work off-shore 0.643
6. Disruption to my social life during working off-shore o.574
7. Feelingisolated from home and world eventswhile I am off-shore 0.530
8. \Forking in an all-rnale environment 0.516'
9. Nlonotoflous and dal/ off-shore living and working environment 0.508r
Factor 2: Career and achievement12.45,4-81,%)
1. Under promotion - working at a level below my level of ability 0.714
2. NIy level of ability has not beenenough utilized and stretched 0.702
3. An absenceof any potential careeradvancement o.557
4. A lack of emotional support and encouragementfrom suPeriols 0.644
5, Being afraid of decreasingof income in the period of my resting on-shore 0.558
5. Pay differentials 0.556
7. Rate of pay 0.s24
Factor3f Safetyl'1.89,3.71%J
1, Worried about lack of first aid due to being far away from on shore,when an accidentoccurs 0.674
2. Worried abowtdisasters causedby harsh and much more changeableoff shoreclimates 0.666
3. Lacking confidencein off-shore medical facilities 0.602
4. Feelinginadequatewhen someonehas an accident 0 . 58 9
5. Travelling betweenon-shore and off-shore by helicopter or ship 0 . 58 5
6. I feel that my own and others' safety is at risk if I make a mistake 0.557
7. l.ong periodsof inrensiveconcentration o.499
8. Worried about accidentscausedby my decision at work 0.436
9. Monotonous foods and shon of fresh vegetablesand fruits 0.372
Factor 4: Management problem and relationship with others at work ('1.73,3.40%)
1. Worrying about not getting cooperation at work 0.764
2. Having no one to talk over problemwith 0 . 75 9
3- Relation with szPeraisor 0.666
4. Deterioration in working relationshipsafter intensiveperiods together 0.625
5. Inadequateinstructionto do the job 0.532
6. Difficulriesconcentrating on work when my mind is thinking about home 0.524
7. Wonied about no suitable onshorework for me, owing to working off-shore for too long 0.435
Factor5: Physicalenvitonmentof workplace\-1.64,3.27Y")
1. Unpleasantworking condition due to vibration o.741
2. Unpleasantworking condition due to noise 0.727
3. Unpleasantworking conditions due to heat 0-558
Factor5: Living environment11.41,,2.76%l
1. Poor air circulation in living accommodation 0.687
2. Rest being disturbed becauseof sharedliuing accommodation with otherc 0.643
3. Living with personshaving different life style and behaviours 0.5't7
4. Disturbancein living accommodationdue to noise from machinery 0.517'
5. Lack of privacy due to sharing a living accommodation with others 0.475
Factor 7: Managerial role (7.24,2.430/")
1. Over promotion - being promoted beyond my level of ability 0.704
2. I have to offend someonein my work 0.669
3. Morale and organizational climate 0.677
4. Having to monitor and manageothers'work 0.616
lcontinued ouerleaf)

Copyright @ 2001 John Viley & Sons,Ltd. and Hechh 17:175-183 \2001]'
Stress
 \7-Q. Chen,T-'W.Wong andT-S.Yu

T a6leIl. (Continuedl.

Item descriprionrErgenvelues.
varianceproporrion) Facror
loading
Factor8: Ergonomics(1.15,2.25%)
1. I ohen run fasr in work 0.694
2. I am often required to work for long periods with my body in physically awkward positions 0.647
3. I otten move or lift heavy objects in work 0.642
Factor9: Organizationalstructure\1.11,2,17%)
1. Rotation of 28 days working off-shore and 28 days resting on-shore 0.6-19
2. Vorking 74 days onloff - alternariveweeksof days and nights during off shore 0.4s6
3. Lack of paid holidays 0 . 39 1
4. Feelingbeing deprivedof freedom,due to too many reguladonsand disciplinesduring 0.384
working off-shore
*Loaded on factor 9 with factor loadingof 0.451 at the sametime; rloadedon factor 3 with factor loadingof 0.401at the
samerime;
'loaded on factor 5 wilh factor loading of 0.508 at the samedme.

Table III. Association of the factors with different lob title groups.

Occupational Factor 1 Factor 2 Facror 3 Factor 4 Facror 5 Factor 5 Factor 7 Factor 8 Factor 9
group
Drilling 28.51 22.26 28.87 17.94 10.92 13.47 9.47 7.94 10.59
workers
Attending 29.72 22.37 31.23 1,6.82 11.30 12.70 8.65 7.75 12.28
personnel
Deck workers 24.45 20.75 26.42 16.38 10.33 1r.95 8.75 7.78 8.98
Electricians 34.29 24.37 32.s6 17.76 1t.46 13.83 9.71 7.78 11.8
Mechanician 29.63 23.'1,9 30.22 75.69 10.78 t2.03 8.06 8.66 9.03
Service 20.83 18.66 23.28 14.10 8.03 77.24 7.83 6.45 7.31
workers
Manager 1,9.02 30.95 76.46 1r.59 "10.7"1
30.44 10.22 10.32 6.85
Material 27.95 1,9.77 25.55 1.7.36 7.32 12.23 8.58 5.05 1,0.23
worKers
Power workers 27.62 1,9.52 30.14 14.67 11.00 1,2.t4 7.90 5.95 10.33
Derrick 30.18 27.45 29.1,8 20.41 1,2.36 14.s9 9.18 8.14 1,1.23
workers
Turbine 29.65 20.88 30.35 1.7.35 13.76 14.53 8.88 5.88 10.71
workers
Other 29.19 21,.32 29.7"1 1,7.47 9.94 t2.47 8.87 7.56 10.76
ANOVA: F 3.723 t.676 2.32s 1.729 4.592 1.434 1.485 2.058 3.381
value
P value 0.000 0.07s 0.009 0.064 0.000 0.153 0.133 0.022 0.000
ANCOVAT F 2.274 1,.468 1.827 1.598 4.492 1,.272 1.083 2.074 2.554
value
P value 0.013 0.140 0.047 0.095 0.000 0.275 0.373 0.021 0.004
Factor I, the interfac€ between job and family/social life; factor 2,carcer and achievement; factor 3, safetyi factor 4, managemetrt
problems and relationshipwith others at work; factor 5, physical environmentof the workplace; factor 6, living environment;
lactor 7, managerialrole; factor 8, ergoDomics;factor 9, organizationalstructure.
Ilighest valuesin italic and bold, lowest value in bold.

was no selection bias in our sarnple becausethe
work schedule was applicable to all workers.
Our findings indicate that the occupational stress
scale (OSS) for Chineseoff-shore oil installation
workers has satisfactoryvalidity and reliability. It
has good construct validity being in accordance
with occupational stress theory, and can detect
different sourcesand levelsof stressamongstgroup
of workers with different iob titles. An association
between the score of the instrument and the

CopyrightO 2001JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. S t e s sa n d H e a l t b1 7 : 1 7 5 - 1 8 3( 2 0 0 1 )

 Reliability of the occupationalstressscale

Table IV, Hierarchical multipie regressionin predicting the associationof occupational

stresswith mental health.
Independent
variables P value Adjusted Rr P value
Step 1 0.053 <0.001
Ag. 0.003 o.947
Educationai level
Primary (0: no, 1 : yes) -7.772 0.102
Secondary{0:16, 1 : yes) -7.322 0.044
Junior college(0 : no, 1 = yes) 0.925 0.130
Universiry(0 = no, 1:yes) 1.856 0.005
Marital status (0 = unmarried, 1 = married) -0.945 0.094
Years of working on platforms 0.004 0.929
History of chronic health condition
Chronic bronchitis(0 = no, 1 : yes) 1,.382 0.061
Hypertension -o.771 0 . 33 1
Diabetes 0.669 0.501
Cfuonic gastritis o.076 0.904
Ulcer 1.390 0.084
High blood lipids -0.487 0.660
Lipid liver -0.779 0.491,
Step 2 0.216 <0.001
Total score of rhe OSS 0.045 < 0 . 0 0 1

Table V. Internal consistencyof the OSSfor Chineseoff-shore installation workers.

No. of item Alpha

Factor 1: the interface betweenjob and family/social life 9 o.9l
Factor 2: careerand achievement 7 0.88
Factor 3: safety 9 0.90
Factor 4: managementproblems and relationship with others at work 7 0.84
Factor 5: physical environment of the workplace 3 0.86
Factor 6: Iiving environment 5 0.81
Factor 7: managerialrole 4 o.72
Factor 8: ergonomics 3 o.79
Factor 9: organizational structure 4 0.78
Total scale 51 0.97

mental health of the workers was observed.The
measurementhas satisfactoryinternal consistency
and reliability,with Cronbach'salpha coefficient
greater than 0,90 for the total scale and greater
than 0.70 (rangingfrom 0.72 to 0.91,)for the nine
subscales. All of them met the criterionof an alpha
valueof 0.70 or grearer.32
Ideally, specialistsin occupational psycbology
sbould be engagedin assessingthe content ualidity
of the questionnaire. Owing to practical con-
straints, u'e had to base our assessmenton a
literat4re reuiew and comments frotn a panel of
eight doctors with considerableu)ork experience
on tbe platforms. All of them had good medical
backgroundsand understoodthe researchtopic.
Cooper and Sutherlandreponed two studieson
occupational stress in the off-shore oil industry
in the UK, using a similar questionnaire,which
identified sevenand eight factors respectively.lslT
Basedon the questionnairesusedin the two studies,
we developedthe OSS for the presentstudy, and
nine factors were identified.Comparing our results
with those in the two studies,we found that the
subscalesof 'safety', 'interface between job and
family', and 'living environmenr',werecommonin
'career and
all three studies. Subscalesrelated to
reward/achievement' and'relationships at work'
were identified in our study, as was the former
in the second study, and the latter in the first
study of Cooper and Sutherland. Most of the
items which loaded onto'factors intrinsic to the
job' in Cooper and Sutherland'sfirst study, were
separatelyloadedonto 'physicalenvironmentof the
workplace' and 'organizational structure' in this

Copyright@2001JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. qnd Heabh 17:775-1,83 12001)

Stress
 If-Q. Chen,T-W. WongandT-S.Yu
study. Generallyspeaking,the constructvalidity of
the presentstudywas favourablecomparedto the
previousstudies.62.5 per centof the total variance
couid be explainedby the factorsidentifiedin our
study, higher than those reported in Cooper and
Sutherland'sfirst and secondstudy {at 45.1 and
49.4 per cent.respectivel:-).Also, the factors in the
presentstudyhad a much clearerand more precise
l a r e n ri m p l i c a r i o na l l o w i n ge a s i e ri n t e r p r e t a t i o n .
Specifically,the contents described by tbe items
loadingonto eachfactor in this studywere highly
coherent,except for item 9 in factor 3 and item 7
in factor 4.
Sparks'studyindicatedthat work stressors per-
ceivedby workers in differenroccupationswere
different.3TThis was confirmed in our study. We
found that off-shore oil worker with different
job titles perceived different levels of occupa-
tional stress.Among the nine subscalesof the
OSS,significant differencesin the mean scoresof
'the interface
between job and farnily/social life',
'safety','physicalenvironment
of the workplace',
'ergonomics'and'organizadonal
structure'across
12 job title groups were revealed by ANOVA
and ANCOVA. These were most likely ro be
associatedwith differencesin their micro work
environment and job demands,eyen though they
worked on the sameplatforms. No significantdif-
ferencesin the mean scores were found for the
remainingsubscales(careerand achievement,rela-
t i o n s h i pw i t h o t h e r sa t w o r k ,l i v i n gi n e n v i r o n m e n r
and managerialrole) acrossthe 12 work groups.
Thesestressorswere common for all off-shore oil
workers. In theory, the stressorsresulting from
'interface
betweenjob and family life' ought to
be similar for all workers working on the plat-
forms, but a significant difference in the mean
scoreswas observed.The reasonfor this difference
was unclear, but might be related to the differ-
ences in the nature of their iob or background,
or both.
Some studies have indicated that occuoational
stresscould predicr mental health.J8a0 Thir *as
confirmed in our study. Significantlypositive asso-
ciatioqsbetweenmental health and oerceivedstress
from off-shoreoil work were found usins hier-
archicalmultiple regression, and the scoreof the
OSSexplained15.3 per cent (0.215-0.053)of the
varianceof the GHQ scoreof the subjectsinvesti-
gated.Similar resultswere also reportedin Cooper
and Sutherland'stwo studies,which indicatedthat
the mental health of off-shore workers was asso-
ciated with perceivedstressfrom 'relationshipsat
work and at home' and 'living environment' in
CopyrightO 2001John!(iley & Sons,Ltd.
one study,lT and with stressfrom 'the home/work
interface' and 'safety and insecurity off-shore' in
anotherstudy.2o
Of the 581 off-shoreoil workers interviewed,
551 completelyansweredall the items in the
questionnairein about 30 min, The responserate
was high, implying that the OSS is a practical
and_usefulinstrument among Chineseoff-shoreoil
wotKeIs.
Three limitations were noted in the evaluationof
the validity and reliabiliry of the OSS.Firstly, the
test was not repeated.Consequently,the stability
of the OSS could not be assessed. Secondly,
the evaluationof the predicive validity of the
OSS for mental health did not use a follow-
up approach.arInstead, based on the results
of previous studies showing that occupational
stress could result in mental ill-health among
w o r k e r s , t : t 8w e e x a m i n e dt h e a s s o c i a r i oonf t h e
stresslevel of off-shore workers measuredby the
OSSand their mental ill-health measuredby GHQ
to assessthe predictive validity. We could not
infer a causalrelationshipbetweenthem, but could
only indirectly evaluatethe predictive validity of
the OSS. A prospective design would be more
appropriate in assessingthe predictive validity
of the scale. Lastly, three items namely, items 8
and 9 in factor 1 and item 5 in factor 5, were
not satisfactorily separatedby factor analysis as
they were simultaneously loaded onto the two
factors. Also, the meaning of the rwo items
(item 9 in factor 3 and item 7 in factor 4) were
incongruous with the domain onto which they
were loaded (Table II). These findings suggested
that revision of these items should be made to
improvethe OSS.
In conclusion.the OSShad a clear and mean-
ingful structure in accordancewith occupational
stresstheory.The discriminantand predictivevalid-
ity were satisfactory,and a reliability analysisof
the OSS showed high internal consistency.The
OSS can thercforebe used as an instrumentto
measureoccuPationalstressorsassociatedwith off-
shoreoil installationwork amongChineseoff-shore
oil workers.
A(knowledgements
The authors expresstheir deep thanks to their co-
workersat the Worker'sHospitalof the]iTestCom-
pany of South Seaof ChineseOff-shoreOil Com-
pany,Drs Yan-ZhuLin, Zhi-Ming Ling andJing-Song
I ang.
Stressand Heabh 77t 175-183 12001)

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