title: Development and validation of the medical student stress scale in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Medical students experience various stresses that arise in a special environment. However, there is no specific stress scale for medical students with regard to their environment in Korea. Therefore, in this study, we developed and confirmed the validity of a stress scale for medical students in Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  A draft version of the scale was developed on the basis of open-ended questionnaires from 97 medical students. The validity of the content of this scale was evaluated by three medical educationists. The scale was administered to 435 third and fourth grade medical students as the main survey. For our data, we performed an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. We used Cronbach <italic>α</italic> index to determine internal consistency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six factors with 40 items were extracted through the exploratory factor analysis: academic stress (9 items); clerkship stress (11 items); interpersonal stress (7 items); career stress (8 items); health-related stress (3 items); and financial stress (2 items). These factors showed a statistically significant correlation. The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a favorable RMSEA (0.053) and reasonable fit (CFI=0.847, TLI=0.833). Cronbach <italic>α</italic> values of the six factors ranged from 0.63 to 0.85.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The medical student stress scale had a good model fit. It is a valid and reliable instrument in identifying stress in medical students and can be used in future studies. Also, the scale is expected to provide individual stress profiles for students to help them manage stress more effectively.
authors: Gachon University School of Medicine, Gachon University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
authors: Min Jeong
authors: MJ
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Medical Education, Gachon University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
authors: Kwi Hwa
authors: KH
authors: Park
authors: Department of Medical Education, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Korea.
authors: Hyo Hyun
authors: HH
authors: Yoo
authors: Departments of Internal Medicine, Gachon University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
authors: Ie Byung
authors: IeB
authors: Park
authors: Departments of Preventive Medicine, Gachon University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Yim
keywords: Medical students; Scale; Statistical factor analysis; Stress