Development and psychometric validation of the Parental Surgical Fear Scale (PSFS)

This study aimed to develop Parental Surgical Fear Scale (PSFS) and evaluate its psychometric properties.

This methodological study was conducted with 201 parents of children aged 0-17 years who were scheduled for elective surgery for the first time at a university hospital between December 2023 and January 2025. The psychometric evaluation of the scale included content validity, item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

For PSFS, KMO = 0.943, and Bartlett's test χ² = 3176.932, p < 0.001 were found. As a result of Exploratory Factor Analysis, it was determined that the scale has a two-factor structure: Procedural Fear (PF) and Caregiving Responsibilities and Life Functioning Disruption-Related Fear (CLF); the total variance explained was 65.38%. The scale consists of 20 items, with a strong correlation between the factors (r = 0.716, p < 0.001). In the CFA, the model fit indices were calculated as χ²/df = 2.326, IFI = 0.931, CFI = 0.931, TLI = 0.919, and RMSEA = 0.081. Internal consistency was excellent, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.941 for PF, 0.933 for CLF, and 0.956 for the total scale. The ROC analysis identified optimal cut-off scores (PF ≥ 29, CLF ≥ 22, total ≥ 49).

As the first instrument developed specifically to assess parental surgical fear, the PSFS demonstrates strong psychometric properties and is a valid and reliable tool.

Pediatric nurses can use the PSFS to identify parents at high risk of surgical fear, enabling targeted preoperative education and psychological support interventions.