Occupational Stress Scale – OSS
Measures the frequency with which employees are bothered by stressful occurrences across five occupational dimensions.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Occupational Stress Scale – OSS was developed by House, J. S., McMichael, A. J., Wells, J. A., Kaplan, B. H., & Landerman, R. (1979). It is designed to measure Occupational Stress. The scale is intended for use with Employees.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 15 items organized into 5 factors/subscales: Responsibility Pressure, Quality Concerns, Role Conflict, Job vs. Non-Job Conflict, Workload.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Responsibility Pressure | 1,2,3 | 3 |
| Quality Concerns | 4,5,6 | 3 |
| Role Conflict | 7,8,9 | 3 |
| Job vs. Non-Job Conflict | 10,11,12 | 3 |
| Workload | 13,14,15 | 3 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 0 = Not at all / Never, 1 = Rarely, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Rather often / Fairly often, 4 = Nearly all the time / Very often.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 0 to 60. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low Occupational Stress: 0 – 15
- Moderate Occupational Stress: 16 – 30
- High Occupational Stress: 31 – 45
- Very High Occupational Stress: 46 – 60
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Responsibility pressure alpha: .59-.76; Job vs. non-job conflict alpha: .56-.76; Quality concerns alpha: .72; Role conflict alpha: .70; Workload stress alpha: .73.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 5 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.