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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1450334

Development and validation of the job stressor scale for specialty nurses

Provisionally accepted
Panpan Zhang Panpan Zhang 1Wenqiong Lin Wenqiong Lin 2*Songyao Li Songyao Li 2Yaru Li Yaru Li 2Jili Wei Jili Wei 3Huiyi Zhang Huiyi Zhang 1*Bo Zhang Bo Zhang 1*Ziru Fang Ziru Fang 1*Rui Guo Rui Guo 1*Hongmei Zhang Hongmei Zhang 1*
  • 1 Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
  • 2 People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
  • 3 First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: Specialty nurses play a crucial role in specialized nursing practice, teaching, management, and research. These nurses often face significant work pressure; therefore, scientifically and effectively assessing their job stress and its sources is vital for enhancing the quality of their work. However, there is currently a dearth of verified assessment tools for measuring job stressors among specialty nurses. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and test an instrument to assess the job stressors applicable to specialty nurses. Methods: We conducted a multiphase mixed-methods study. The initial scale items were developed from a literature review and structured interviews. The scale was then refined through two rounds of expert consultation (N = 14) and a primary test (N = 20). A main survey (N = 552) was then conducted to evaluate the scale’s construct validity and reliability using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results: The final scale comprises four dimensions with 27 items. The factors included “specialized nursing and work,” “workload and time allocation,” “patient care,” and “work resources and environment.” The EFA explained 69.10% of the variance, while the CFA confirmed a good model fit. The content validity index was 0.980 at the scale level and 0.790–1.000 at the item level. The scale’s reliability was supported by its high Cronbach’s α (0.958), test–retest reliability (0.946), and split-half reliability (0.868). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the job stressor scale developed in this study is valid and reliable, and is recommended for use among specialty nurses to assess their stressors.

    Keywords: specialties, Nurses, stressor, scale, development, Evaluation

    Received: 17 Jun 2024; Accepted: 26 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Lin, Li, Li, Wei, Zhang, Zhang, Fang, Guo and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Wenqiong Lin, People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan Province, China
    Huiyi Zhang, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
    Bo Zhang, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
    Ziru Fang, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
    Rui Guo, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
    Hongmei Zhang, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.