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

SummaryBackgroundStress 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.ObjectivesTo 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.DesignCross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire.SettingA large teaching hospital in Southwest Mainland China.ParticipantsNursing 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%.MethodsPrincipal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modelling.ResultsA 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).ConclusionsThe 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.