Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the General Work Stress Scale.

Abstract

To test the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the General Work Stress Scale. Nursing is one of the most stressful professions. The primary measure that should be taken to ensure that nurses can cope with stress is determining their stress levels. The General Work Stress Scale was translated into Turkish via back-translation. Its reliability and validity were analysed via item analyses, content and construct validities, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, Cronbach's alpha and Spearman-Brown reliability coefficients. Average and standard deviations of the scale items and the overall scale were calculated. The study was conducted with 276 nurses. The Cronbach's alpha of the whole scale was 0.91, and the Spearman-Brown reliability coefficient was 0.89. According to the resulting one-dimensional structure, the factor loadings of the scale items were between 0.67 and 0.82, and this structure alone explained 58.72% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed perfect and good-fit indices (χ2 /df=1.96; RMSA=0.06; CFI=0.99; IFI=0.99; GFI=0.97; RMR=0.04; NFI=0.99). The mean total score was 2.55±0.87, while the items' means ranged from 2.10±1.15 to 3.33±1.13. The Turkish version of the General Work Stress Scale is a valid and reliable tool for assessing nurses' general work stress. Nurses largely feel that their work makes them so stressed that they wish they had a different job. The items with high means suggest opportunities for improvement. The nurses or nursing services and units with low or high stress levels can be determined with the General Work Stress Scale. If necessary, measures aimed at eliminating or reducing the negative effects of those nurses or nursing services and units with high stress levels can be taken in a timely manner.