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Perceived stress in survivors of suicide: Psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale
Author(s) -
Mitchell Ann M.,
Crane Patricia A.,
Kim Yookyung
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.20284
Subject(s) - clinical psychology , exploratory factor analysis , psychology , convergent validity , psychometrics , perceived stress scale , reliability (semiconductor) , scale (ratio) , quality of life (healthcare) , concurrent validity , poison control , stress (linguistics) , psychiatry , medicine , internal consistency , medical emergency , psychotherapist , linguistics , philosophy , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of three versions of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; © American Sociological Association) in adults who had survived the death of a family member or significant other by suicide. Reliability and validity were examined. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to assess dimensionality of the underlying constructs. All three versions of the PSS demonstrated acceptable reliability. Two shorter versions retained good psychometric properties and demonstrated convergent and concurrent validity with measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms and mental health quality of life. Factor analysis provided further evidence of their usefulness as brief and valid measures of perceived stress in acutely bereaved adult survivors of suicide. In a sub‐sample of closely related survivors, the psychometric properties of the 4‐item version of the PSS were retained. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 31:576–585, 2008