Srithanya stress scale

Abstract

Objective  To develop a short version of stress questionnaire

Materials and methods There were 2 steps as follow. Step 1, 42 academic staff entering the editorial course during 7-9 July 2008 answered the stress questionnaire-Suanprung version (SST-20) Then, these staffs were clustered into 4 groups of 6-10 persons per group, in order to generate stress questions. Next, 10 items were selected by popular vote and also timing and scale type were consensus. Staff had to fill this developed questionnaire.  Internal consistency and Pearsonûs correlation were calculated. Step 2, The 5 items-version (ST-5) of developed questionnaire was selected by item deleted after applying to 110 Srithanya Hospitalûs staff working in inpatient wards. The Hospital anxiety-depression scale (HAD) and self perception of stress on 7 related conditions were used as standard tests for the concurrent validity.

Results  There were 5 items such as sleep problem, decrease in concentration, irritable, etc. The ST-5 questionnaire highly correlated to HAD.

Conclusion The ST-5 had acceptable concurrent validity. Researcher proposed cut off score into 3 groups, i.e. no problem (score   ≤ 4), might have a problem (5-
6) and have a problem ( ≥7). The questionnaire, however, should further study in community.