Development of a Workplace Health Initiatives Checklist for Women and its cross-sectional associations with burnout, productivity, and satisfaction

OBJECTIVES: To develop a Workplace Health Initiatives Checklist for Women (WHIC‑W), we assessed content validity (expert) and provided initial evidence for construct validity by examining hypothesized cross-sectional associations with burnout, productivity, and job satisfaction. METHODS: A multidisciplinary expert panel comprising gynecologists, occupational physicians, nurses, industrial hygienists, and psychosomatic specialists created 26 items for the WHIC‑W. A survey was conducted in October 2023 with 3343 working women aged 20-69 years. The checklist includes 2 domains: Domain 1 (15 items on work environment) and Domain 2 (11 items on pregnancy, child/elderly care, and support for balancing illness and work). The outcome included the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, work productivity using presenteeism (WHO Health and Work Performance Questionnaire) and absenteeism (health-related days off in the past 28 days), satisfaction rated on a visual analog scale (0-10), and intention to resign over the past year. RESULTS: The checklist was scored on a 26-point scale, with a median score of 3 (interquartile range: 1-9), indicating limited workplace support for women. Higher checklist total scores were associated with lower personal burnout (β = -0.32, 95% CI: -0.435 to -0.196), work-related burnout (β = -0.30, 95% CI: -0.395 to -0.207), and client-related burnout (β = -0.17, 95% CI: -0.276 to -0.065), and higher absolute presenteeism (β = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.336-0.516; higher score = less performance loss), absenteeism (OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.001-1.021), and satisfaction (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.055-1.079). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides preliminary construct validity evidence supporting WHIC-W as a formative checklist, with higher scores showing hypothesized cross-sectional associations with lower burnout, better productivity, and job satisfaction.