The adaptation of the emloyment precariousness scale to Turkish language; the effects of precarious employment on work accidents and mental health

Objective: The Employment Precariousness Scale, has been developed in order to assess precariousness. The scale consisted 26 items and six dimensions as temporariness, disempowerment, vulnerability, wages, rights and capacity to exercise rights. The aim of study is adaptation of The Employment Precariousness Scale to Turkish language and to investigate the relationship between precariousness and work accidents and mental health. Method : The study has been carried out in two public institutions (n=512). Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity were used to assess the suitability of the sample for factor analysis. Construct validity was investigated with explatory factor analysis, principal component factor analysis and varimax rotation. The reliability of the domains were assessed by the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Regarding the goodness of the fit of the scale with the orijinal form, confirmatory factor analyses was examined. Results : Based on the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the scale, it was deemed suitable to reduce the number of dimensions and items of the scale, which has 6 dimensions and 26 items in the original, to 5 dimensions and 23 items. Two items which constitutes the temporariness dimension and one item from rights dimension about unemployment insurance benefits have excluded from the Scale. Internal consistency Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be α=0.888. Sampling adequacy was considered adequate (KMO=0.868). The association between precarious employment and work accident was not statistically significant (p>0.05) while the association between precarious employment and mental health is significant (p<0.001). Conclusion : Findings have shown that Turkish version of the Employment Precariousness Scale is a reliable and valid instrument that can be considered useful tool to measure the precariousness of employment in work life in Turkey. Key words: Precarious employment, scale adaptation, work accident, mental health.