Psychometrics of the Revised Nursing Stress Scale

Abstract

Occupational stress is one of the most impactful issues that nurses face, and it is critical to have instruments that can accurately measure occupational stress. However, existing widely used stress measures do not adequately reflect occupational stress in current practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a revised occupational stress measure, the Revised Nursing Stress Scale. Reliability and validity were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, and divergent validity. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated acceptable fit. All nine subscales had acceptable internal consistency reliability (αs ≥ 0.73 and ω ≥ 0.80). Convergent validity (r = 0.530, p < 0.01) and divergent validity (r = <0.30, 95% confidence intervals ranging from [-0.39 to -0.14] to [-0.32 to -0.06]) provided support for the scale. The Revised Nursing Stress Scale is an updated valid and reliable measure that is recommended for use when measuring occupational stress in hospital-based nurses.