The structure of stress: Confirmatory factor analysis of a Chinese version of the stressors in Nursing Students Scale (SINS)

Abstract

Background Stress is a feature of the life of nursing students and this had been well studied. However, there are very few instruments to measure stress in nursing students specifically. One such instrument, the Stressors in Nursing Students Scale has been developed in Scotland and applied in studies in Hong Kong and Australia and proved useful alongside other measures of individual differences and psychological distress.

Objectives To translate the Stressors in Nursing Students Scale into Chinese, test it with Chinese nursing students and explore the psychometric structure of stress in this population.

Design Cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire.

Setting A large teaching hospital in Southwest Mainland China.

Participants Nursing students (n = 1090) participated (1000 in the classroom and 90 on clinical placement); 862 from the classroom and 79 from clinical placements returned questionnaires (n = 914) representing a return rate of 86.3%.

Methods Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modelling.

Results A four-factor structure was obtained from principal component analysis. This was confirmed (fit indices > 0.9 and RMSEA < 0.06) using structural equation modelling. The stress-related factors were: Clinical (0.83), Finance (0.81), Confidence (0.82), and Education (0.70).

Conclusions The original structure of the SINS in English was confirmed in this large sample of Chinese nursing students. This will allow cross-cultural studies of stress in nursing students.