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Table 2 List of valid survey instruments used with indication of cut-off values

From: Stress and strain among veterinarians: a scoping review

Valid survey instruments (with reference to workload, psychosocial stressors, mental well-being, burnout, psychological problems, anxiety, depression, and suicidal factors)

Cut-off values

Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) [54]

caseness: ≥ 8; possible case: 8–10; probable case: ≥ 11

Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale (WEMWBS) [55]

14 individual item scores from 1 (none of the time) to 5 (all of the time) (scores 14 to 70): The higher the values in the score, the more pronounced the mental well-being

Health and Safety Executive management standards indicator tool (HSE MSIT) [56]

35 questions grouped into seven key stressor domains: demands (8 items), control (6 items), managerial support (5 items), peer support (4 items), relationships (4 items), role (5 items), and change (3 items), which have the potential to have a negative impact on employee mental health and well-being. Each question scores 1–5 from the least favourable working conditions (high risk of stress at work) to the most favourable working conditions (low risk of stress at work), respectively. The overall score for each of the seven stressor domain scales is calculated for each respondent by adding the item scores for each question answered in that scale and dividing by the total number of questions answered in that scale

Survey Work-home Interaction Nijmegen (SWING) [57]

A total of 22 items in 4 subscales. An aggregate result is calculeated based on the total score obtained in eaach of the four subscales

Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) & MBI-Human Services Scale (MBI-HSS) (designed for professionals in the human services) [58]

Occupational exhaustion (EE): < 17 (low degree), 18 – 29 (moderate degree), > 30 (high degree)

Depersonalisation (DP): < 5 (low degree), 6 – 11 (moderate degree), > 12 (high degree)

Personal accomplishment assessment (PA): < 33 (low degree), 34 – 39 (moderate degree), > 40 (high degree)

Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) [59]

Five point Likert scale with three subscales: personal (six items), work burnout (seven items), and client burnout (six items). Scores ranged from 1 – 100 (high score = burnout risk)

Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) [60]

3 subscales: Compassion Satisfaction (pleasure you derive from being able to do your work well), Burnout (exhaustion, frustration, anger and depression related to work): Secondary Traumatic Stress (feeling fear in relation to work‐related primary or secondary trauma)

For each of the sub-scales scores are categorised as Low (22 or less), Moderate (between 23 and 41) or High (42 or more)

Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) [61]

25 items, each rated on a 5-point scale (0–4), with higher scores reflecting greater resilience

Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire (DCSQ) [62]

3 subscales (psychological demands, decision latitude, social support) with 17 items

High scores: high occupational stress, high work control and high social support

Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) [63]

21 items in three self-report scales

Depression (score): normal (0–9), mild (10–13), moderate (14–20), severe (21–27), extremly severe (28 +)

Anxiety (score): normal (0–7), mild (8–9), moderate (10–14), severe (15–19), extremly severe (20 +)

Stress (score): normal (0–14), mild (15–18), moderate (19–25), severe (26–33), extremly severe (34 +)

Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) [64]

2 scales (positve affect, negative affect) with each 10 items. Scores can range from 10 – 50, with higher scores representing higher levels of positive or negative affect

Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS-Reduced) [65]

35 items in four subscales for perfectionism (concern over mistakes and doubts about actions, excessive concern with parents’ expectations and evaluation, excessively high personal standards, concern with precision, order and organisation): Higher percentiles indicate more problems while a percentile closer to 50 represents average (and healthy) responses. Percentile scores above the 90th percentile are of clinical significance and represent dysfunctional perfectionism

Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) [66]

Score (10–50); < 20: well; 20–24: mild mental disorder; 25–29: moderate mental disorder; ≥ 30: severe mental disorder

Compassion Fatigue Short Scale (CFSS) [67]

Score (13–130) from low/no compassion fatigue to frequent symptoms of compassion fatigue: very low =  < 27, low = 27–30, mild = 31–35, high = 36–40 and > 40 = very high

General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) [68]

&

Chronicity and the General Health Questionnaire (CGHQ) [69]

2 items, each assessing the severity of a mental problem over the past few weeks using a 4-point scale (from 0 to 3). Psychological distress was defined as scoring above 2 when the responses are summed across the 12 items

Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ-8) [70]

&

Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ-9) [71]

8 item scala with a score from 0 – 24 (≥ 10 Depression)

&

9 item scala with a score from 0 – 24 (≥ 10 Depression) and one additional item to assess suicidal ideation (Item 9)

Positive and Negative Occupational Stress Inventory (PNOSI) [72]

19 items (8 items assessed job engagement, 11 items assessed job strain)

Moderate level of job strain/job engagement (values 40 – 60), very low job engagement (< 40)

Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R) [73]

Scala with 4 items. The total score of the four items ranges from 3 to 18, with a score of 8 and above used to identify patients with increased suicide risk

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) [74]

10 items (5-point Likert): 0–13 (low stress); 14–26 (moderate stress) 27–40 (high perceived stress)

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) [75]

A long version with 141 items forming 30 scales, the so-called “research questionnaire”. A medium-length version with 95 items on 26 scales, the “questionnaire for work environment professionals”. A short version with only 44 items and 8 scales "questionnaire for workplaces

Job Stress Survey (JSS) [76]

10-item subscales (0 to 9 + days)

NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) [77]

The sum of the items of the 5-point scale results in a category for the degree of expression of the characteristic in the participant: very low, low, average, high or very high

Job-Related Affective Well-Being Scale [78]

A mean score for each scale is found by reverse scoring each of the negative adjectives, adding each response, and dividing by the number of responses. Higher scores on each scale indicates higher affective well-being in that category

Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) [79]

In order to interpret the scores of a particular group of employees on (a dimension of) the UWES, the mean score from the database can be used