Integrative Prevention at Work: Protocol for the Development of an Assessment Tool

In a changing world of work, integrative prevention at work represents a promising avenue for addressing contemporary health, safety, and well-being issues. However, for organizations to deploy and benefit from this approach, developing an assessment tool for integrative prevention appears to be the first required step. No existing assessment tool can assess all its key characteristics on a unified scale, limiting the operationalization of this approach in organizations.

This study aims to develop an assessment tool to evaluate the 5 attributes of integrative prevention at work within the health and social services sector. Specifically, the study aims to: (1) generate items, rating scales, and instructions; (2) validate the content of the tool; (3) pretest the tool in organizational settings; and (4) evaluate its psychometric properties.

A 4-phase methodological study will be carried out for each research objective. The assessment tool will be developed and tested in health and social services organizations in Quebec, Canada.

Phase 1 is complete, with a total of 96 items created and distributed relatively evenly across 5 subscales, each reflecting one attribute of integrative prevention at work. Phase 2 will be finalized by the end of 2026. Phases 3 and 4 will be completed by the end of 2028 to provide a validated tool to assess the attributes of integrative prevention at work.

From an organizational perspective, this tool will provide health and social services organizations with a validated, context-adapted measure of the attributes of integrative prevention at work, enabling baseline assessment, targeted improvements, and longitudinal monitoring, thereby strengthening prevention practices. From a research perspective, this project will deepen the understanding of integrative prevention at work through its empirical validation.