The development of Taiwanese Elderly Stressor Inventory

The purpose of this study was to develop a stressor inventory for use with a population of elderly Taiwanese people that allows the respondent to rate the degree of stressfulness of each stressor experienced, based on a transactional stress model. Thirty-three subjects identified stressors experienced from age 65 onwards. Seventy-three stressors were identified and listed in the instrument. Inter-rater agreement on the content was > or = 0.90. The psychometric properties of the instrument was established among 351 elderly Taiwanese subjects. In determining the stability of stressfulness, the generalizability coefficient for the relative decisions was 0.90 and generalizability coefficient for the absolute decision was 0.90. As to stability of stressor frequency, the generalizability coefficients for both the relative and absolute decisions was 0.72. Construct validity of the instrument was provided by a correlation of 0.59 with state-anxiety, of 0.56 with negative affect, and -0.28 with positive affect. Further refinement of the toll is in progress.