The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) in women experiencing infertility: A reliability and validity study

• Main Authors: Saman Maroufizadeh, Fatemeh Foroudifard, Behnaz Navid, Zahra Ezabadi, Bentolhoda Sobati, Reza Omani-Samani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2018-12-01
• Series: Middle East Fertility Society Journal
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110569018300578

Background and objective: Infertility is a low control stressor with negative psychological consequences. The 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) is one of the most frequently used instrument to measure perceived stress. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the PSS-10 in Iranian infertile women. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 240 infertile women in a referral fertility center in Tehran, Iran between February 2017 and March 2017. The PSS-10 and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were administrated to all participants. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the factor structure of the PSS-10. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate internal consistency reliability, and Pearson correlations were used to examine convergent validity with HADS subscales. Results: The CFA result indicated an acceptable fit of the data to the two-factor model (Perceived Helplessness and Perceived Self-Efficacy factors) of PSS-10 (χ2/df = 2.58, CFI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.081 and SRMR = 0.061). Internal consistency of the scale and subscale scores was good. The PSS-10 and its subscales were significantly correlated with anxiety and depression (all Ps < 0.05), showing an acceptable convergent validity. Discussion: The Persian version of PSS-10 demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity for assessing perceived stress in women with infertility. Keywords: Infertility, Perceived stress scale, Validity, Reliability, Persian