The work-related acceptance and action questionnaire (WAAQ): Initial psychometric findings and their implications for measuring psychological flexibility in specific contexts

Over the past decade, experimental and longitudinal research has shown that psychological flexibility is an important determinant of mental health and behavioral effectiveness in the workplace. These findings have been established using a general measure of this psychological process, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire—Revised (AAQ-II). Consistent with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) theory, psychological flexibility may demonstrate even stronger associations with variables related to a work context (e.g., job satisfaction) if it were assessed using a measure of the construct that is tailored to the workplace. To test this hypothesis, we first developed such a measure, the Work-related AAQ (WAAQ). Findings from 745 participants across three studies reveal that the structure, validity and reliability of the WAAQ are satisfactory. As predicted, the WAAQ, in comparison to the AAQ-II, correlates significantly more strongly with work-specific variables. In contrast, the AAQ-II tends to correlate more strongly with outcomes that are likely to be more stable across different contexts (e.g., mental health and personality variables). These findings are discussed in relation to ACT theory.

You can find the English version of the scale in the appendix of this article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5763445/
 

Use of the WAAQ: Permission is hereby given to use the WAAQ for IRB/ethics-required research projects that occur in university and non-profit research institutions; in such cases, further author permission is not required. If, however, the WAAQ is to be used in any part of a money making enterprise (e.g., consultancy to organizations), the authors require that you seek their permission before using the measure. —Professor Frank Bond, Dr. Jo Lloyd, Goldsmiths College, University of London, 9, June 2020