P-228 Development and Validation of the Presenteeism Climate Questionnaire Among Nurses in Selangor, Malaysia

Introduction Despite the high prevalence of sickness presenteeism (SP) among nurses, there is a lack of knowledge on the determinants of SP in this population. In response, the current study aimed to develop and validate a novel questionnaire, known as the Presenteeism Climate Questionnaire (PCQ), to identify the determinants of SP among the nurses. Methods Nurses working in 12 public hospitals in Selangor, Malaysia were invited to attend focus group discussions (FGDs) to explore their experience on SP. Themes extracted from FGDs and from existing literature were used to generate items for the PCQ. Data from 218 participants were analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to establish the questionnaire’s factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then conducted on a separate dataset of 217 participants to confirm the factor structure. Results Five FGDs were conducted among 28 nurses. Six themes of SP from FGDs and three additional themes from existing literature generated 54 items for the PCQ. EFA retained 28 items across nine factors, while CFA retained 19 items across seven factors, namely the “negative perception on sick leave”, “burdening of co-workers”, “lack of shared responsibility”, “accumulation of workload”, “self-arrangement for sick leave for replacement”, “workplace norms”, and “organisational support”. Discussion and conclusion The PCQ is a novel and multidimensional questionnaire specifically developed to evaluate the determinants of SP among the nurses. It has the potential to be a valuable tool for assessing SP in future intervention studies.