Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ)

Abstract

The Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ) is a widely utilized psychosocial instrument developed to assess job characteristics based on the influential Demand-Control-Support (DCS) Model, an extension of Karasek’s original Demand-Control Model. The DCSQ measures three primary dimensions of the work environment: Psychological Demands, Decision Latitude (Control), and Social Support. It is designed to identify work environments that lead to high job strain (high demands combined with low control) and predict associated negative health outcomes, particularly within Scandinavian working populations, though its utility is broad. The DCSQ is a specific adaptation and validation of the broader Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ).

Keywords

Psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, Karasek model, job strain, occupational health, psychosocial factors, work environment, stress assessment.

Authors

Robert Karasek, Claude Brisson, Norito Kawakami, Ilja Houtman, Paul Bongers, Benjamin Amick (Primary developers of the parent instrument, JCQ); Bente Sanne, Sverre Torp, Arnstein Mykletun, Alv A. Dahl (Validators and researchers focusing on the Swedish DCSQ adaptation).

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ) is to quantitatively assess the interplay between workload, autonomy, and interpersonal relationships in the workplace. By measuring these key dimensions, the DCSQ aims to classify specific job types into categories such as ‘High Strain’ (high demands, low control), ‘Active’ (high demands, high control), ‘Passive’ (low demands, low control), and ‘Low Strain’ (low demands, high control).

Furthermore, the instrument serves as a critical tool in occupational health research and practice for predicting adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal problems, and mental health issues like depression and anxiety, which are theorized to result from chronic exposure to high-strain work environments lacking adequate social support.

Construct

The DCSQ is grounded in the Karasek Demand-Control Model, extended by Johnson to include Social Support, forming the Demand-Control-Support Model. This model posits that job stress and health consequences are not merely a function of high demands, but rather the interaction between demands and the individual’s level of control, or Decision Latitude, over how those demands are met.

The three core constructs measured are:

• Psychological Demands: This refers to the intensity and quantity of work tasks, including time pressure, conflicting demands, and mental effort required.
• Decision Latitude (Control): This encompasses the worker’s authority over task execution, skill utilization, and decision-making power. High control is protective against strain.
• Social Support: This reflects the quality of interpersonal relationships and the level of instrumental and emotional help available from supervisors and colleagues. Social support is hypothesized to buffer the negative effects of job strain (the Iso-Strain hypothesis).

Validity

The validity of the DCSQ, often studied in conjunction with the parent Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), has been demonstrated across numerous epidemiological studies. Construct validity is supported by the consistent finding that the three primary subscales—Demands, Control, and Support—load onto distinct factors.

Predictive validity is strong, particularly concerning health outcomes. Studies utilizing the DCSQ have repeatedly shown that individuals categorized in the “High Strain” quadrant (high demands, low control) or the “Iso-Strain” quadrant (high strain combined with low social support) exhibit significantly higher risks for cardiovascular morbidity, psychological distress, and long-term sickness absence compared to individuals in low-strain jobs.

Reliability

The reliability of the DCSQ is typically assessed via internal consistency metrics, most commonly using Cronbach’s Alpha. The validation study by Sanne et al. (2005) on a large Norwegian population sample reported satisfactory to good internal consistency for the primary subscales, confirming the instrument’s stability in measuring the intended constructs.

Generally, the Decision Latitude and Social Support scales tend to show higher internal consistency (Alpha often ranging from 0.70 to 0.85) than the Psychological Demands scale, which can sometimes exhibit lower Alpha values, reflecting the multidimensional nature of job demands. Despite minor variations, the instrument is considered reliable for use in large-scale epidemiological investigations.

Factor Analysis

The factor structure of the Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ) was specifically examined by Sanne, Torp, Mykletun, and Dahl in 2005 using a large population sample. Their analysis aimed to confirm whether the instrument maintained the theoretical three-factor structure (Demands, Control, Support) when applied to the Scandinavian context.

The findings generally supported the conceptual model, confirming that the items clustered into the intended factors: Psychological Demands, Decision Latitude, and Social Support. This robust factor structure validates the DCSQ as a reliable measure of the core components of the Demand-Control Model in Nordic populations. The specific item loadings provided evidence that the Swedish translation and adaptation maintained fidelity to the original Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) framework.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychosocial questionnaire

Format: Likert-type scale responses (typically four options)

Language Available: Swedish, Norwegian, and numerous other languages due to its derivation from the internationally standardized Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ).

Population Group: Working adults in various occupations.

Age Group: Typically 18 years and older (Adult working population).

Population Details: The validation of the DCSQ focused specifically on large, representative samples of the general working population in Sweden and Norway.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the frequency or extent to which specific job characteristics apply to their work using a four-point scale such as ‘often’, ‘sometimes’, ‘occasionally’, and ‘never or hardly’.

Keywords

Occupational stress, work autonomy, job control, Karasek, JCQ, internal consistency, epidemiological research, Scandinavian populations, psychological demands.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ) is derived from the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), which is often administered under license. Information regarding the use of the JCQ, including fees and permissions, can typically be obtained directly from the JCQ Center. The foundational work for the JCQ was published in 1998 (Karasek et al.), while the specific large-scale validation of the Swedish DCSQ adaptation was published in 2005 (Sanne et al.). The instrument is often made available for non-commercial academic research. The original JCQ instrument can be found at: https://www.jcqcenter.org/.

Reference’s

Karasek, R., Brisson, C., Kawakami, N., Houtman, I., Bongers, P., & Amick, B. (1998). The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ): An instrument for internationally comparative assessments of psychosocial job characteristics. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3(4), 322-355.

Sanne, B., Torp, S., Mykletun, A., and Dahl, A.A. (2005). The Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ): Factor structure, item analysis and internal consistency in a large population. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 33, 166-174. The original PDF of a related study can be downloaded here: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/indhealth/50/6/50_MS1282/_pdf.

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Items of the Swedish Demand-Control -Support Questionnaire (DCSQ)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

• Psychological demands
• Does your job require you to work very fast?
• Does your job require you to work very hard?
• Does your job require too great a work effort?
• Do you have sufficient time for all your work tasks?
• Do conflicting demands often occur in your work?
• Decision latitude
• Do you have the opportunity to learn new things in your work?
• Does your job require creativity?
• Does your job require doing the same tasks over and over again?
• Do you have the possibility to decide for yourself how to carry out your work?
• Do you have the possibility to decide for yourself what should be done in your work?
• Social support
• There is a quiet and pleasant atmosphere at my place of work
• There is good collegiality at work
• My co-workers (colleagues) are there for me (support me)
• People at work understand that I may have a ‘‘bad’’ day
• I get along well with my supervisors
• I get along well with my co-workers