Assessing mental health as a measure of work potential

Author

James V. Taylor, Eastern Washington University

Date of Award

2012

Rights

Access is available to all users

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS) in Psychology: Clinical

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Mahlon Dalley

Second Advisor

Philip Watkins

Third Advisor

Julia Smith

Abstract

"Previous research has shown that mental health issues in the work place lead to absenteeism, lost productive time (LPT), and unemployment. This study examined the utility of the Work Potential Profile (WPP) in assessing depression, anxiety, and preoccupation with health as part of a measure of work potential. The main purpose of this study was to establish convergent validity for the WPP by correlating selected WPP profile scores with the MMPI-2 scales of depression (Scale 1), psychasthenia (Scale 7), and hypochondriasis (Scale 1), and to establish divergent validity by correlating the WPP profile scores with the MMPI-2 masculinity- femininity scale (Scale 5). The WPP and MMPI-2 were administered to 202 participants during a psychological evaluation in a private practice, and then selected scales were correlated to determine convergent and divergent validity. It was found that the profile scores of the WPP correlated significantly with their corresponding MMPI-2 scales but did not correlate significantly with the masculinity-femininity scale. In addition step-wise multiple regressions were used to establish which ofthe selected MMPI-2 scales best predicted selected WPP profile scores. It was found that the combination of MMPI-2 Scale 2 and Scale 7 best predicted the WPP profile score of Stress and Anxiety. Also the same combination of MMPI-2 Scale 2 and Scale 7 best predicted the WPP profile score of Depression/Resentment. Furthermore, the combination of MMPI-2 Scale 7 and Scale 1 best predicted the WPP profile score of Preoccupation with Health. This validates that the WPP helps in better identifying those with decreased absenteeism, LPT, and unemployment because of mental health needs, and to formulate better interventions"--Document.

Comments

Typescript. Vita.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Taylor, James V., "Assessing mental health as a measure of work potential" (2012). EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 40.
https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/40