The Recovery Experience Questionnaire: development and validation of a measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work.

By Sabine Sonnentag, C. Fritz. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2007

1,950 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Drawing on the mood regulation and job-stress recovery literature, four self-report measures for assessing how individuals unwind and recuperate from work during leisure time were developed (Study 1). Confirmatory factor analyses with a calibration and a cross-validation sample (total N=930) showed that four recovery experiences can be differentiated: psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery, and control (Study 2). Examination of the nomological net in a subsample of Study 2 (N=271) revealed moderate relations of the recovery experiences with measures of job stressors and psychological well-being; relations with coping and personality variables were generally low (Study 3). Potential applications for the future use of these short 4-item measures in longitudinal and diary research are discussed.

Subfields: General Health Professions, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f40a39f81fca014ed66e9f4f361509104906bf1e

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Citations in the corpus

Entertaining Media Use and the Satisfaction of Recovery Needs: Recovery Outcomes Associated With the Use of Interactive and Noninteractive Entertaining Media (2011, methodology): “The results demonstrated that the use of video games is strongly associated with recovery experiences and that all of the four recovery needs proposed by Sonnentag and Fritz (2007) are elicited by the use of interactive media entertainment.”
The role of partners for employees' recovery during the weekend (2012, methodology): “Increased levels of tension and activation make it more difficult to arrive at a state of relaxation (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007).”
Ordinary magic, extraordinary performance: Psychological resilience and thriving in high achievers. (2014, background): “Sonnentag and Fritz (2007) proposed four distinct off-job experiences that are 18 essential in capturing individuals’ recuperation processes; namely, psychological detachment 19 from work, relaxation, mastery, and control.”
Job demands–resources model in the context of recovery: Testing recovery experiences as mediators (2011, methodology): “Altogether, we tested a hypothesized four-factor model (Model 1) and four alternative models, which proved to be the statistically best fitting models in the Sonnentag and Fritz’ (2007) CFA analyses, in order to ensure that the hypothesized model was valid.”
Its the little things that matter: an examination of knowledge workers energy management (2011, positive): “Specifically, experiences such as relaxation, mastery experiences, a sense of control, and psychological detachment from work have been found to be particularly beneficial for recovery (Fritz & Sonnentag, 2005; Fritz et al., 2010; Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007).”
Lunch Breaks Unpacked: The Role of Autonomy as a Moderator of Recovery during Lunch (2014, methodology): “This is surprising given that recovery is conceptualized as a process that unfolds throughout the day (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007).”
Intraindividual models of employee well-being: What have we learned and where do we go from here? (2015, background): “Sonnentag and Fritz (2007) proposed four types of recovery experiences that employees can engage in, namely psychological detachment from work, mastery, control, and relaxation experiences.”
Are communications about work outside regular working hours associated with work-to-family conflict, psychological distress and sleep problems? (2013, background): “…of frequent Work Contact may be due to problems associated with these interruptions and their implications for self-control, depletion of resources and feelings of exhaustion (Freeman & Muraven, 2010; Muraven & Baumeister, 2000; Sonnentag, Binnewies, & Mojza, 2010; Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007).”
How long do you benefit from vacation? A closer look at the fade‐out of vacation effects (2011, background): “An experience that turned out to be crucial for recovery is the experience of relaxation during off-job time (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007) because this experience implies that no further demands are made on functional systems called upon during work.”
Need for recovery after emotional labor: Differential effects of daily deep and surface acting (2018, methodology): “Relaxation was assessed at bedtime with the four‐item relaxation subscale of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007) as adapted by Bakker, Sanz‐Vergel, Rodríguez‐Muñoz, and Oerlemans (2015) to capture daily recovery experiences after work (i.e., “Tonight (after work), I used…”
Building a Sustainable Model of Human Energy in Organizations: Exploring the Critical Role of Resources (2012, background): “Sonnentag and Fritz (2007) identified four dimensions of recovery experiences that help recover vigor: psychological detachment from work (i.e. no thinking about work during an off-work period; Etzion, Eden, & Lapidot, 1998; Fritz, Yankelevich, Zarubin, & Barger, 2010; Sonnentag, Binnewies et al.…”
Having a creative day: understanding entrepreneurs’ daily idea generation through a recovery lens (2018, background): “For example, people may mentally recover from work by no longer thinking about work issues, or by engaging in other activities like a hobby or volunteer work (Sonnentag and Fritz, 2007).”
Job Demands–Resources theory and self-regulation: new explanations and remedies for job burnout (2020, background): “However, Sonnentag and Fritz (2007) argue that it is not the specific activities that help one to recover from job stress, but rather their underlying attributes.”
Doing Good at Work Feels Good at Home, but Not Right Away: When and Why Perceived Prosocial Impact Predicts Positive Affect (2012, background): “For example, employees who face stressful conditions at work tend to ruminate negatively about their jobs and find it difficult to detach mentally from work when at home (Cropley, Dijk, & Stanley, 2006; Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007).”
New Ways of Working: Impact on Working Conditions, Work–Family Balance, and Well-Being (2014, background): “In other words, the degree to which an individual can decide which activity to pursue during leisure time, as well as how and when to engage in this activity (Sonnentag and Fritz 2007).”
Vacation (after-) effects on employee health and well-being, and the role of vacation activities, experiences and sleep (2012, methodology): “To measure relaxation, psychological detachment and control over leisure time during vacation, we applied scales of the Recovery Experience Questionnaire (Sonnentag and Fritz 2007).”