Development and Psychometric Evaluation of Redeemer's University Retirement Anxiety Scale (RURAS)

Abstract

Despite the increasing incidence of retirement anxiety among university employees in Nigeria, there are limited psychometric instruments for assessment to aid early detection and appropriate intervention. Hence, this study aimed to develop and validate the Redeemer's University Retirement Anxiety Scale (RURAS), a 13-item instrument designed to comprehensively assess retirement anxiety in the Nigerian multi-cultural context. The study was conducted in four phases: Phases 1 and 2 involved the initial generation of 39 items through a thorough literature search, following which 21 items were retained based on expert evaluation during the instrument's face and content validity. In phase 3, a cohort of 313 non-academic staff from Nigerian universities was selected to complete the 21-item RURAS via a multistage sampling approach. The obtained data underwent both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). McDonald's Omega total (ωt) was used to assess the instrument's reliability. In phase 4, another sample of 241 non-academic staff completed RURAS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 (CDRISC-10). The data collected were subjected to correlational analyses to establish the criterion-related validity. The EFA yielded a 3-factor model (Personal Obligation Concerns-POC, Financial Planning Concerns-FPC, and Social Detachment Concerns-SDC), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) yielded acceptable fit indices. The internal consistencies (Omega(ω)) of the FPC, POC and SDC sub-scales were 0.75, 0.83 and 0.70, respectively, and 0.87 for the full scale. The criterion-related validity correlation coefficients of the three dimensions were adequate with HADS - Anxiety ranging between (0.49 and 0.61) and Depression (0.44 and 0.54), RSE (-0.30 and -0.49) and CDRISC-10 (-0.13 and -0.42). The study concluded that the RURAS has acceptable psychometric properties and the potential to be helpful as a screening tool for retirement anxiety among employees in Nigerian higher education and other related contexts.