Adaptation of the Medical Student Stress Factor Scale Into Turkish: Validity and Reliability Study

Few studies assessing stress symptoms are specific to medical education, and even fewer are designed to determine which stressors affect medical students. It was aimed to adapt the Medical Student Stress Factor Scale (MSSF) into Turkish and to provide a valid and reliable tool to determine stress caused by medical education in medical students. Between January and May 2024, 632 medical students participated. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), the MSSF, and a sociodemographic data form were used. The MSSF is a 7-point Likert-type scale with 28 items. Although individual item scores range from 1 to 7, the total and subscale scores are calculated by averaging item scores, resulting in an overall score range from 1 to 7. Test-retest, Cronbach α, Davis technique, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA), Pearson correlation, and descriptive analyses were used. The scale's Cronbach's alpha was .937, and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient was .935. The sphericity results of the Bartlett test were x^² = 9302.227, P < .001. In the CFA analysis, GFI = 0.814, CFI = 0.840, x^²/df = 3.108, and RMSEA = 0.081 were determined. The MSSF total and subscale scores were positively correlated with all DASS-21 subscales (P < .001), supporting the construct validity of the Turkish version of the scale. It was found that the validity and reliability analyses of the Turkish version of the MSSF were satisfactorily met.