Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb;39(1):115-124.
doi: 10.1002/smi.3170. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Psychometric properties of the perceived stress scale (pss-10) with breast cancer patients

Lorena M Soria-Reyes  1 , M Victoria Cerezo  1 , Rafael Alarcón  1 , María J Blanca  1
Affiliations

Psychometric properties of the perceived stress scale (pss-10) with breast cancer patients

Lorena M Soria-Reyes et al. Stress Health. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Breast cancer diagnosis is one of the most difficult events that a woman can experience during her life and it usually produces high levels of stress. Global measures of perceived stress are useful for screening and for comparing stress levels between cancer patients and other clinical and nonclinical populations. One such instrument that is widely used is the Perceived Stress Scale (pss-10), but its psychometric properties have scarcely been analysed with breast cancer patients. The aim of this study was to provide validity evidence regarding the use of the 10-item version of the pss-10 as a tool for measuring perceived stress in this context. Participants were 215 Spanish breast cancer patients who completed the PSS-10 and the DASS-21, a measure of affective distress (depression, anxiety, and stress). The internal structure of the PSS-10 was examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the reliability of test scores was estimated using McDonald's omega coefficient. Validity evidence based on relationships with other variables was also obtained using correlation analysis. The CFA supported a correlated two-factor structure: perceived helplessness (six negatively worded items) and perceived self-efficacy (four positively worded items). Reliability coefficients for scores on these two factors were 0.87 and 0.73, respectively. Scores on affective distress (DASS-21) were strongly and positively correlated with perceived helplessness and moderately and negatively correlated with perceived self-efficacy. The PSS-10 is an adequate tool for measuring perceived stress in the breast cancer context and it may be useful for identifying women at risk of psychological maladjustment.

Keywords: cancer; distress; helplessness; self-efficacy; validity evidence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Standardized parameter values for the correlated two‐factor model. PH, Perceived helplessness; PS‐E, Perceived self‐efficacy; PSS, Perceived Stress Scale
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abdollahi, A. , Panahipour, H. , Hosseinian, S. , & Allen, K. A. (2019). The effects of perceived stress on hope in women with breast cancer and the role of psychological hardiness. Psycho‐Oncology, 28(7), 1477–1482. 10.1002/pon.5102 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abuatiq, A. , Brown, R. , Wolles, B. , & Randall, R. (2020). Perceptions of stress: Patient and caregiver experiences with stressors during hospitalization. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 24(1), 51–57. 10.1188/20.CJON.51-57 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alarcón, R. , Cerezo, M. V. , Hevilla, S. , & Blanca, M. J. (2020). Psychometric properties of the Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale in women with breast cancer. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 20(1), 81–89. 10.1016/j.ijchp.2019.11.001 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Educational Research Association , American psychological association, & national Council on measurement in education. (2014). In The standards for educational and psychological testing. AERA Publications.
    1. Andreou, E. , Alexopoulos, E. C. , Lionis, C. , Varvogli, L. , Gnardellis, C. , Chrousos, G. P. , & Darviri, C. (2011). Perceived stress scale: Reliability and validity study in Greece. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8(8), 3287–3298. 10.3390/ijerph8083287 - DOI - PMC - PubMed