Development and Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Parenting Stress among Clinical Nurses

Clinical nurses who are mothers of preschool-aged children experience extreme parenting stress linked to their hospital work environment and shift work, differing from that generally experienced by mothers. This study aimed to develop and validate a parenting stress scale that considers the clinical nurses' form of work and its characteristics.

The scale items were initially derived from in-depth interviews and a literature review and were revised and modified based on the results of content validity testing by experts. The developed instrument was evaluated using data from 157 clinical nurses in South Korea who were mothers of preschool-aged children.

In the instrument validation stage, 19 items categorized in four factors (psychological burden, physical and mental fatigue, work shift, and work environment) were derived from construct validity, and the cumulative explanatory power was 56.6%. Furthermore, the convergent and discriminant validity and external construct were confirmed. Cronbach's α of the final instrument was .86 (range: .81-.86). The validity and reliability of the newly developed parenting stress scale for clinical nurses were established in this study; it uses a 4-point Likert scale. A higher mean score by factor indicates a higher level of parenting stress experienced by clinical nurses.

This instrument would be beneficial to measure the level of parenting stress among nurses who work in hospitals and evaluate factors related to their parenting stress to devise effective interventions.