Development of the Psychiatric Nurse Job Stressor Scale (PNJSS).

Aims: The aim of the present study was to develop a tool, the Psychiatric Nurse Job Stressor Scale (PNJSS), for measuring the stress of psychiatric nurses, and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the PNJSS.

Methods: A total of 302 psychiatric nurses completed all the questions in an early version of the PNJSS, which was composed of 63 items and is based on past literature of psychiatric nurses' stress.

Results: A total of 22 items from four factors, 'Psychiatric Nursing Ability', 'Attitude of Patients', 'Attitude Toward Nursing' and 'Communication', were extracted in exploratory factor analysis. With regard to scale reliability, the item-scale correlation coefficient was r = 0.265-0.570 (P < 0.01), the Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.675-0.869, and the test-retest correlation coefficient was r = 0.439-0.771 (P < 0.01). With regard to scale validity, the convergent validity of the 'job stressor' scale was r = 0.172-0.420 (P < 0.01), and the predictive validity of the 'job reaction' scale was r = 0.201-0.453 (P < 0.01). The compatibility of the factor model to the data was 1.750 (χ(2) /d.f., 343.189/196, P < 0.01), the goodness of fit index was 0.910, the adjusted goodness of fit index was 0.883, the comparative fit index was 0.924, and the root mean square error of approximation was 0.050.

Conclusions: The PNJSS has sufficient reliability and validity as a four-factor structure containing 22 items, and is valid as a tool for evaluating psychiatric nurse job stressors.