Factor structure and psychometric properties of the index of teaching stress-short form (ITS-SF)

This study analyses factor structure and psychometric properties of the Italian short version of the Index of Teaching Stress-Short Form (ITS-SF). The original version of the ITS (90 items) was submitted to 567 teachers randomly drawn from a cross-section of school levels. Confirmatory factor analysis to check the factor structure was unsatisfactory, and Cronbach’s α (.98) indicated a redundancy of items. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted for each section of the test and cross-loading items were eliminated. The resulting ITS-SF consists of 43 items, tapping eight meaningful and adequately reliable dimensions substantially corresponding to all dimensions measured by the original version of the ITS. The Italian short version of the Index of Teaching Stress constitutes a reliable measure of teacher stress in educative interactions.