Workplace Violence (KWVS®13): scale development and validation in the Korean context.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health and Safety
• Psychometrics
• Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Background:

• Workplace violence encompasses a range of aggressive behaviors, including physical violence, verbal abuse, and bullying.
• Existing measures may not adequately capture the nuances of workplace violence in the Korean context.
• There is a need for a validated instrument to assess the intensity and types of workplace violence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a revised Korean Workplace Violence Scale (KWVS®13).
• To provide a reliable and objective tool for assessing workplace violence in Korea.
• To establish sex-specific cutoff values for identifying workplace violence risk.

Main Methods:

• The 24-item Korean Workplace Violence Scale (KWVS-24) was revised through expert review, resulting in the 13-item KWVS®13.
• A survey of 359 service industry workers assessed the reliability and validity of KWVS®13, alongside burnout and depression.
• Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine sex-specific risk cutoff values.

Main Results:

• KWVS®13 comprises 13 items across four subscales: psychological/sexual violence (from customers and internal sources), physical assault, and organizational protective systems.
• The scale demonstrated good validity (content validity ratio: 0.888; convergent/discriminant validity: 100%) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha: 0.827-0.860).
• Significant correlations were found between KWVS®13 subscales and burnout/depression, with sex-specific reference values for risk assessment.

Conclusions:

• The KWVS®13 is a robust and valid instrument for quantitatively assessing workplace violence.
• It provides a reliable framework for evaluating workplace violence across diverse professional settings.
• The scale aids in objective assessment and informs the development of targeted workplace violence prevention strategies.