Individual attentional capacity to perform safely : developing the workplace attention trifactor scale

Abstract

A self-reported measure of work-related attention capacities was developed and validated in the current dissertation. The 12-item Workplace Attention Trifactor Scale (WATS) was created from the conceptual integration of two streams of psychological research: James Reason’s occupational safety work on human errors, and Posner and Petersen’s cognitive neuroscience work on the three attention networks. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the WATS to have three attentional domains. Alerting attention referred to the vigilance and sustained wakefulness during working hours (e.g., “I stayed attentive at work”). Orienting attention referred to the prompt and accurate alignment of attention to the source of the stimuli (e.g., “My eyes were quick to pick up on important details in my work”). Executive control of attention referred to adaptive resolution of conflicting or competing stimuli (e.g., “I was able to prioritize the work tasks that required my immediate attention”). All three domains of the WATS had indirect effects on reports of incidents and injuries at work through work-related cognitive failures of attention. The WATS had good test-retest reliability over a three-month period, with the orienting domain being the most stable (r = .69), alerting (r = .66), then executive control (r = .38). Self-reports on the WATS was compared to performance scores on the Attention Network Test (ANT), a cognitive task that test for the efficiency of the three attention networks. The lack of convergent validity between the two forms of measurement suggested that the WATS and the ANT were tapping into different aspects of attention. In a field setting, the WATS, rather than the ANT, was predictive of informant-reported safety compliance and participation. Theoretical implications of a three-factor model of workplace attention and practical utility of a self-assessed work-related attention measure were discussed.