Abstract
Purpose: There are many different types of scales for measuring stress responses. However, most of available scales have certain problems. Some need considerable time and effort to administer, whereas others measure only psychological aspects of stress. The Public Health Research Foundation Stress Check List Short Form[PHRF-SCL (SF)]was developed to fulfill the need for a more practical scale. Its reliability and validity were examined in this study. Method: The original PHRF-SCL is a self-report scale that consists of 50 items measuring stress responses of young people and adults. Participants were 24,854 males and 9,702 females that responded to the PHRF-SCL. Factor analysis with Promax Rotation was conducted for item selection. Reliability of the test was examined using the Cronbach's α. Construct validity was examined using the following 3 analyses: a) confirmatory factor analysis, b) comparison among groups that were expected to show different stress responses, c) correlation analysis of PHRF-SCL (SF) scores and stressor scores. Criterion related validity (concurrent validity) was examined by conducting correlation analysis between PHRF-SCL (SF) scores and Cornell Medical Index (CMI) scores. Results: Twenty-four items of the PHRF-SCL (SF) were eliminated as a result of factor analysis. It was shown that PHRF-SCL (SF) has 4 factor structure: anxiety/uncertainty (6 items), tiredness/physical (body) responses (6 items), autonomic symptoms (6 items), and depression/feeling of insufficiency (6 items). PHRF-SCL (SF) had a high reliability coefficient (0.71-0.85). Also, PHRF-SCL (SF) scores and stressor scores were significantly correlated. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated high fitness between data and models. An ANOVA and a t-test indicated that a group of participants who had experienced a change of jobs had significantly higher scores on this scale than a control group without such an experience. Also, a group of participants with a stress control strategy had significantly lower scores on the scale than a control group without such a strategy. Moreover, CMI scores were significantly correlated with PHRF-SCL (SF) scores. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that PHRF-SCL (SF) is a useful scale with high reliability and validity.
