Measuring job frustration in Omani healthcare workers: development and psychometric validation of the OJFQ

Abstract

Background: The western existing scales to measure employee burnout are often critiqued in relation to cultural sensitivity and early stage job frustration experience while being implemented in non-western settings as evidenced within the limitations of the local study findings. Therefore, since Omani society values social stability while being integrated with employment, there is a demanding necessity for developing a culture-sensitive scale to measure job frustration among healthcare workers (HCWs). Objective: This study aimed to develop and psychometrically validate the Omani Job Frustration Questionnaire (OJFQ), a culturally grounded instrument designed to assess early stage occupational frustration among healthcare workers in Oman.

Methods: The development of the scale was considered following a sequential mixed methods approach. Set of six focus group discussions (FGDs) with 42 nurses in the mental health setting steered initial item generation guided by conceptual frameworks from the MARS model, and CBI. Expert reviews involving 16 professionals from Oman and Malaysia were conducted to refine the item pool ending up with a 45-item OJFQ initially. The newly developed scale was surveyed on 139 participants working in a mental health setting, primarily involving nursing professionals, getting a response rate of 99.3%. The data analysis was conducted in presenting details of descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess scale validity.

Results: The final scale included 37-item across five constructs after conducting EFA: (1) management and role clarity, (2) emotional regulation and professional coping strategies, (3) career development and engagement, (4) workplace bureaucracy and social challenges, and (5) workplace resources and stability. The scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.774 for the final 37-item version), and all constructs were significantly correlated with the total score. CFA showed an acceptable chi-square ratio but suboptimal fit across most indices, providing preliminary support for the proposed factor structure. Both EFA and CFA were conducted on the same sample. In addition, there was no significant correlation (r = 0.032, p = 0.709) was found with the CBI, suggesting that the scale may capture a related but distinct construct.

Conclusion: The OJFQ represents a culturally tailored instrument with preliminary psychometric support for assessing job frustration among healthcare workers with initial validation in a mental health nursing context in Oman. Its development may support early identification of occupational strain within culturally specific healthcare environments. Further refinement across diverse healthcare settings and populations are warranted.