Psychometric Properties of an Iranian Version of the Response to Stressful Experiences Scale (RSES)

Abstract Objective: Few psychometric scales have been developed to measure resilience and related constructs such as Response to Stressful Experiences in military. This study aimed to translate and validate the Response to Stressful Experiences Scale (RSES), a measure of individual differences in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to stressful life events in Iranian Military Personnel. Method: In this methodological study, 501 Military personnel were selected by convenience sampling from three military units in Tehran, Iran .The forward backward-procedure was applied to translate the questionnaire from English into Persian. Face validity, Content validity, construct validity (EFA, CFA) and convergent validity have been employed to validate the prepared scale. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and the test-retest were used to assess the scale reliability. Results: By performing EFA on the first sample part (n = 300), the exploratory factor analysis showed that the present scale has three factors. The factors were called as active coping, meaning-making and flexibility, resiliency, according to their content and the research, which explained 37.5% of the overall extracted variance. CFA was performed on the second part of the sample (n = 201), to test the fitness of the 3-factor solution. The confirmatory factory analysis showed a moderate fit for the data (CFI = 0.930, CMIN/DF = 1.879, RMSEA =0.060). The 3-factors subscales were associated with the Connor– Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), indicating the good convergent validity of RSES. The internal consistency was acceptable (active coping=.0.761, meaning-making and flexibility=0.863, resiliency=0.865 and Cronbach's alpha of the total was 0.920). The ICC value of 0.91 ranging from 0.79 to 0.87 was found for the whole scale and the subscales. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the Persian version of the RSES has acceptable psychometric properties. Therefore, it can be used to measure Response to Stressful Experiences or resiliency in research and clinical settings.