Purpose: This article reports the development and psychometric properties of the Parental Stressor Scale: Infant Hospitalization (PSS:IH), an instrument designed to measure parents' perceptions of stress associated with having their infant admitted to the hospital.
Subjects: Eighty-one mothers and 43 fathers of medically fragile, hospitalized infants.Design and methods Psychometric study of the PSS:IH, an instrument that was adapted from the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS:NICU) using literature review, parent interviews, and professional experts. Psychometric analysis was conducted from data collected in a longitudinal study of parents of medically fragile infants. Main outcome measure PSS:IH.
Results: Correlation coefficients demonstrate its internal consistency reliability. Construct validity is supported by significant correlations between the PSS:IH scores during hospitalization with maternal distress after discharge.
Conclusions: The PSS:IH can be used as an outcome assessment instrument for quality assurance and in clinical research. Additional research could evaluate the scale for use in different populations and settings.