Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire III (COPSOQ III)

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Complete the questionnaire to see your psychosocial risk profile.

About the COPSOQ III

The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) is an internationally validated instrument for assessing psychosocial factors at work. Developed by the Danish National Research Centre for the Working Environment and maintained by the international COPSOQ Network, it is freely available for use under the COPSOQ open-source terms.

This implementation uses the middle version of COPSOQ III, which covers 26 dimensions across eight major domains with approximately 87 items. A 2025 validation study by Rahimi, Arnold, LaMontagne and Riley (BMC Public Health) confirmed its reliability and established population benchmarks for Australian workers.

The eight COPSOQ III domains

Demands at Work — Quantitative demands, work pace, cognitive demands, emotional demands, demands for hiding emotions
Work Organisation & Job Content — Influence at work, possibilities for development, meaning of work, commitment to workplace
Interpersonal Relations & Leadership — Predictability, recognition, role clarity, role conflicts, quality of leadership
Work–Individual Interface — Job satisfaction, work–life conflict
Social Capital — Social support from supervisor, social support from colleagues, social community at work, trust in management
Conflicts & Offensive Behaviours — Bullying, sexual harassment, threats of violence, physical violence, gossip and exclusion
Health & Wellbeing — Self-rated health, burnout, stress, sleeping troubles
Personality — Sense of coherence (self-efficacy)

How scoring works

Step 1 — Item-level scoring (0–100)

Each item is scored on a 0 to 100 scale. For five-point Likert scales, response options are scored as:

Response	Score
Always / To a very large extent / Very satisfied	100
Often / To a large extent / Satisfied	75
Sometimes / Somewhat / Neither	50
Seldom / To a small extent / Unsatisfied	25
Never / To a very small extent / Very unsatisfied	0

Step 2 — Reverse scoring

Some dimensions measure positive aspects (e.g., job satisfaction, role clarity). For these, higher scores indicate better conditions. Other dimensions measure demands or negative aspects (e.g., workload, burnout). For these, higher scores indicate worse conditions.

To produce a uniform risk interpretation, positive scales are reverse-scored (100 minus raw score) when computing risk level. This means a high risk score always indicates a problem area.

Step 3 — Scale (dimension) score

The scale score for each dimension is the arithmetic mean of its constituent item scores.

Step 4 — Risk categorisation

Each dimension is categorised into four risk tiers based on the 2025 Australian population benchmarks:

Risk tier	Criterion	Interpretation
Low	Score at or above population mean	Favourable conditions; maintain and monitor
Moderate	Below mean but within 1 SD	Some concern; targeted review recommended
High	More than 1 SD below mean	Significant concern; intervention indicated
Critical	More than 2 SD below mean	Urgent concern; immediate action required

For negative scales (demands, conflict, burnout etc.) where higher raw scores are worse, the thresholds are applied in the opposite direction — scores above the mean represent escalating risk.

Mapping to the 14 Australian psychosocial hazards

Each COPSOQ III dimension maps to one or more of the 14 psychosocial hazards recognised under the Safe Work Australia Model Code of Practice (July 2022).

Australian Hazard	COPSOQ III Dimensions
1. Job demands	Quantitative demands, Work pace, Cognitive demands, Emotional demands
2. Low job control	Influence at work
3. Poor support	Social support (supervisor), Social support (colleagues)
4. Lack of role clarity	Role clarity, Role conflicts
5. Poor change management	Predictability
6. Low reward & recognition	Recognition
7. Poor organisational justice	Trust in management, Quality of leadership
8. Traumatic events/material	Emotional demands (partial coverage)
9. Remote or isolated work	Social community at work (partial coverage)
10. Poor physical environment	Not directly assessed — supplementary module required
11. Violence and aggression	Threats of violence, Physical violence
12. Bullying	Bullying, Gossip and exclusion
13. Harassment	Sexual harassment
14. Conflict / poor relationships	Social community, Quality of leadership

Interpretation guidelines

Individual-level use: Results provide a snapshot of one person's perception of their psychosocial work environment. They should be considered alongside other data sources rather than in isolation.

Group-level use: When aggregated across a workgroup (minimum 5 respondents recommended for anonymity), results identify systemic patterns that inform organisational-level interventions.

Benchmark comparisons: The four-tier risk classification is based on the 2025 Australian population benchmarks. Scores should be contextualised within the specific industry and role type.

Limitations: Self-report measures are subject to response biases including social desirability, recency effects, and individual differences in scale use. Single-timepoint assessments cannot establish causation. Results are indicative, not diagnostic.

References

Burr, H., et al. (2019). The Third Version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire. Safety and Health at Work, 10(4), 482–503.
Rahimi, M., Arnold, B., LaMontagne, A.D., & Riley, T. (2025). Validation and benchmarks for COPSOQ III in an Australian working population sample. BMC Public Health, 25, 369.
Dollard, M.F., & Bakker, A.B. (2010). Psychosocial safety climate as a precursor to conducive work environments. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(3), 579–599.
Safe Work Australia (2022). Model Code of Practice: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work. Canberra.