The Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Stress Scale When Used to Measure Stress Levels of Finnish Nursing Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Background and PurposeStress is an important issue in clinical nursing education because it may obstruct learning in clinical environments. This study aimed to translate, adapt, and investigate the psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), an instrument for measuring stress.MethodsNursing students (N = 189) from five different universities of applied sciences participated in this study in 2018. The modified English version of the 29-item six-factor PSS was cross-culturally adapted into Finnish. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to assess the scale's factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to validate the “best fit” model.ResultsThe proposed 16-item four-factor model showed excellent internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.90.ConclusionsThe results support the use of the 16-item four-factor stress scale to investigate stress among Finnish nursing students.