Work-related abuse: a replication, new items, and persistent questions

This study compared independently developed tools to measure work-related control, abuse, and sabotage. Interviewers administered the Work/School Abuse Scale (W/SAS; Riger, Ahrens, & Blickenstaff, 2000) to 40 welfare recipients, and a Work-Related Control, Abuse, and Sabotage Checklist (WORCASC) to a total of 162 welfare recipients, including the same 40 who answered the W/SAS. I report and compare results on W/SAS and WORCASC with 40 non-sheltered (i.e., not residing in a shelter) respondents and discuss instrument strengths and weaknesses. Measurement analyses provided preliminary empirical answers to questions about the relationship between battering and work. Findings confirmed the reliability of the two instruments, the extent to which they measure something distinct from physical abuse, and their association with relevant outcomes such as being written up, reprimanded, or losing pay at work. Measurement questions are salient in the context of debates over welfare reforms and efforts to reconcile the ways researchers, advocates, service providers, and policy makers understand and address the costs of taking a beating.