Author(s):
MH Campbell, J Gromer-Thomas, K Khan, B Sa, PM Lashley, D Cohall, CE Chin, RB Pierre, OP Adams, MAA Majumder
Country(ies) Of Focus:
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Jamaica
- Trinidad and Tobago
Year of Presentation:
2023
Objective: To evaluate psychometric performance and configural invariance of the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) in medical and health professions students in Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: A cross-sectional online survey distributed to all enrolled students included items measuring readiness for online learning, the PSS-10, and the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS). The time frame was April-June 2020, during the emergency transition to virtual learning in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: Of 1519 respondents, 1420 completed the PSS-10 and were included in this analysis. Internal consistency was very good for the full scale (a = .91) and good for perceived self-efficacy and helplessness subscales (a=.79 and a= .90, respectively). Expected correlation with the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS; n =1420, r = -.44, p < .01) demonstrated concurrent validity. Women reported greater perceived stress than men. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using maximum likelihood estimation demonstrated acceptable fit for the two-factor model. In contrast to a previous Barbadian study, all items were strongly related to their associated factors, with factor loadings ranging from .64 to .83.
Conclusion: Findings support a two-factor structure of the PSS-10 comprising perceived helplessness and perceived self-efficacy subscales and evidence construct validity and configural invariance across cultures. The PSS-10 is a useful resource in the armamentarium of measures in Caribbean mental health research. Established measures of stress are crucial for further work supporting regional resilience efforts in the context of socioeconomic and climate-related stressors.