Testing Content Validity of Nursing Stress Scales: Do They Reflect Current Practice?

Abstract

Nurses are subject to considerable stress, arising from the physical, psychological, and social aspects of their work. Widely used nursing occupational stress measures were developed decades ago and may not adequately capture contemporary sources of stress. The study purpose was to evaluate the content validity of items from existing measures and newly developed items to identify a nursing stress scale that can be used to measure occupational stress in current practice. A three-phase approach for development and evaluation of occupational stress items was conducted. Phase 1: item generation; Phase 2: (N = 11) content expert evaluation of content validity of occupational stress items; Phase 3: subsample (n = 4) of experts reviewing select items. The total item pool was reduced from 73 to 66 items. Expert reviews indicated acceptable content validity of the Revised Nursing Stress Scale. The Revised Nursing Stress Scale is an updated measure of occupational stress in contemporary nursing practice.