Karasek 2.0

The Karasek model aims evaluation constraints of the psychosocial environment at work. It was designed by the American sociologist and psychologist Robert Karasek in 1979. A work situation, whatever it is, is characterized by a combination of:

1) work requirements that match the psychological level of demand in quantity, complexity and working hours required: cognitive and temporal constraints, involving unexpected tasks and / or fragmented, contradictory orders, interruptions of tasks to perform other more urgent, vis-à-vis the dependence of others ...

2) The degree of autonomy which is the ability to choose the procedures and the ability to influence decisions (decision latitude), the use of skills and measures the possibility of fulfillment in achieving the task: freedom of organization, leeway, diversity of tasks, development of knowledge, skills, creativity ...

3) social support, instrumental or emotional, available to the worker at his place of work, from colleagues and hierarchy support on technical aspects such as the implementation of a machine or of a procedure or the moral support of aspects and recognition of the efforts and results.

The factors of psychosocial risks at work for positioning in this model are described here from an internationally used tool, the questionnaire of Karasek.

This questionnaire measures three dimensions of the psychosocial work environment: psychological demands, decision latitude and social support.

It includes 26 questions: nine psychological demands, decision latitude to nine, eight for social support.