Development and initial validation of a role strain scale for male nursing students

Background: Male nursing students face numerous challenges in learning and clinical practice due to occupational gender segregation and societal gender stereotypes. Although there is a role strain scale for nursing students of both genders, it is not specifically designed to assess role strain in areas such as community, family, peers, and nursing education among male nursing students. Purpose: To develop and initially validate a Role Strain Scale for male nursing students. Methods: This study employed a three-phase approach to develop and validate the scale, including item generation, theoretical analysis, and psychometric analysis for reliability and validity among 163 male nursing students. Results: A 12-item Role Strain Scale was developed to include four dimensions: “Family and Friend Role Strain,” “Classmate and Teacher Role Strain,” “Medical Personnel Role Strain,” and “Patient Role Strain,” explaining 63.47 % of the variance. The role strain from teachers and classmates is unique from that experienced by male nurses. Male nursing students with different intentions to enter the nursing profession showed significant differences in overall role strain; those experiencing higher role strain had lower intentions to engage in clinical nursing work (F = 4.81, p = 0.003), supporting the scale's discriminant validity. Additionally, the overall Cronbach's α was 0.733, and a two-week test-retest showed an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.767, indicating good reliability. Conclusion: The Role Strain Scale for male nursing students is the first developed with satisfactory reliability and validity. This scale helps understand the role strain experienced by male nursing students and supports future nursing education and policy-making initiatives. It is recommended to validate the applicability of this scale across different cultures and countries to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the role strain phenomenon among male nursing students.