Validation de la version française canadienne du
Perception of Prevalence of Aggression Scale auprès d’un
échantillon d’intervenants en protection de la jeunesse =
The objective of this study is to evaluate the construct validity of the French Canadian version of the Perception Of Prevalence of Aggression Scale (POPAS), a selfreport questionnaire measuring exposure to workplace violence committed by clients in the health and social services sector. Method. A sample of 310 youth protection workers is utilized to confirm the four-factor internal structure of the instrument. If this structure is not confirmed, an exploratory structural equation model is used. The selected factors undergo Cronbach alpha tests that assess their internal consistency. They are correlated with the French version of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist Scale (PCLS) and the number of absentee days caused by violence in order to measure convergent validity. There are also correlated with the Felt Accountability (FA) scale to assess divergent validity. Comparison analyses according to work environments assess criterion validity. Results. The confirmatory factor analysis does not corroborate the four-factor structure of the POPAS. The exploratory structural equation model validates a three-factor structure: ‘‘verbal violence’’, ‘‘physical violence’’ and ‘‘violence against oneself’’. The first two possess good internal consistency. The positive correlations between these two factors and the PCLS, as well as between these two factors and the number of absentee days, support the convergent validity of POPAS. However, the absence of a significant correlation between the last factor and the PCLS, as well as between this factor and the number of absentee days, does not support convergence. The lack of correlation between the factors and the FA supports the divergent validity of the POPAS. The differences observed as they relate to work environments also attest to criterion validity. Discussion. The construct validity of the French Canadian version of the POPAS suggests that this instrument allows for an evaluation of the subjective frequency of different forms of workplace violence experienced by youth protection workers. It therefore represents an alternative to the use of official data (i.e. incident reports made to the employer), which poorly reflect the reality of these workers given the underreporting of violent incidents in this sector.
POPAS Type II workplace violence Construct validity Psychometric properties Youth protection workers