Psychometric evaluation of the Farsi version of the stressor scale for emergency nurses

Abstract

Background: Emergency department nurses experience unique stressors that contribute to elevated levels of occupational stress. Most existing instruments assess general occupational stress without addressing workplace-specific factors. This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Farsi version of the Stressor Scale for Emergency Nurses (F-SSEN).

Methods: Face and content validity were assessed by five clinical nurses and five nursing experts, respectively. Construct validity, known group validity, and convergent validity were tested on 198 emergency nurses. The test-retest reliability was evaluated in 21 nurses over a two-week interval. Internal consistency was measured using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients.

Results: Face and content validity were found to be satisfactory. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified four factors—conflicts, life and death situations, patients' families' actions and reactions, and technical and formal supports—which explained 60.64% of the total variance. Convergent validity showed a correlation of 0.554 between job stress scores based on SSEN and Brief Nursing Stress Scale (BNSS). Known group validity revealed that occupational stress scores were higher in women than in men, and there was a significant negative correlation between occupational stress scores and work experience in the emergency department. Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients were 0.953 and 0.954, respectively, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.943.

Conclusions: The Farsi version of the stressor scale for emergency nurses demonstrates strong psychometric properties, making it reliable for measuring occupational stress in emergency nurses.