Workforce Agility during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Validation of the Workforce Agility Scale in Care Workers for Frail Elderly

Abstract

This research aimed to validate the Korean version of the Workforce Agility Scale (K-WAS) among care workers for community-dwelling frail elderly. The study involved 192 care workers from Gyengsangnam-do, who completed a structured questionnaire between May 31 and July 15, 2023. The K-WAS, a 13-item instrument measured on a 5-point Likert scale, captures three key aspects of workforce agility: proactivity, adaptability, and resilience. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to ascertain the scale's construct validity. The K-WAS demonstrated a significant positive correlation with psychological empowerment (r=.560, p<.001), thereby establishing its criterion validity. Although the results suggest that the K-WAS is a valid and reliable tool for assessing workforce agility among care workers, further refinement is recommended. The K-WAS is anticipated to aid in the implementation and evaluation of interventions focused on enhancing workforce agility among care workers for frail elderly. By providing a valid and reliable measure of workforce agility, the K-WAS can facilitate the evaluation of these interventions' effectiveness in improving outcomes for the frail elderly and_ enhancing the overall quality of care delivery.