Self-Assessment of VDT Operator Health: Hierarchical Structure and Validity Analysis of a Health Checklist

The underlying hierarchical structure and validity of a health checklist that assesses Video Display Terminal (VDT) operator health was examined. This checklist has been used in many studies of VDT workers (Smith, Cohen, Stammerjohn, Happ, 1981; Piotrkowski, Cohen, Coray, 1992). Two hundred sixty-two office employees from three public service organizations provided the data to identify the underlying structure and assess the validity of the health checklist. Factor analyses of the health checklist were performed to identify all meaningful factor solutions. The convergent and discriminant validity of the nine-factor solution was examined. The factor analyses led to the identification of a hierarchical structure of the health checklist. This empirical structure is shown to be concejtlually sound and useful and offers flexibility in constructing various scales.