This study aims to construct and validate an international professional perceived stress scale specific to intensive care units: the PS-ICU Scale (Perceived Stressors in Intensive Care Units).

Intensive care units take charge of patients who present serious pathological states with an immediate vital risk in an emergency situation. Their treatment requires extensive coordination of human means and sometimes the use of complex procedures and technical means. Moreover, caregivers face the extreme situations of patients and their families coping with death, illness, pain and uncertainty (Weibel et al., 2003).

In this context, numerous stress factors that can have psychological consequences on the professionals and their effectiveness at work are inherent in intensive care (Donchin, 2002; Tummers et al., 2002).

In numerous studies, perceived stress proves to be more predictive of the subsequent health state of the individual than real stress (Consoli et al., 2001). More precisely, the authors have shown the influence of perceived stress on mental health (Ramirez et al., 1996b), psychical health (Chang et al., 2007), burnout (Bourbonnais et al., 1999), job dissatisfaction (Golbasi et al., 2008), absenteeism (Hackett & Bycio, 1996), turnover (Hayes et al., 2006) and more recently on the security of care (Endacott, 2012).

Identifying the factors of perceived stress is important in terms of mental health at work and the security of care. Studies on perceived stress have made it possible to elaborate stress scales specific to each profession (Borteyrou et al., 2013), with the aim of being as close as possible to the professionals' experience. However, to our knowledge, no stress scale for intensive care units has been published.

This study aims to construct and validate an international professional perceived stress scale specific to intensive care units: the PS-ICU Scale (Perceived Stressors in Intensive Care Units). Secondary objectives: To identify the factors of perceived stress having an impact on mental health, job satisfaction and the quality of care. To measure the impact of cultural and organizational dimensions on perceived stress in intensive care specific to each country. To measure the impact of socio-demographic variables on perceived stress. To measure the impact of coping abilities on perceived stress.

Inclusion Criteria:

• In this step, we will include the services which:

  • Practise an activity of intensive care (whether this practice is medical or surgical, adult or paediatric).

The professionals of ICU who:

• volunteer to participate in the study (and with the consent of the head of the unit),
• Senior physicians, interns, and nurses who have been working in the service for more than three months.

Exclusion Criteria:

Administrative staff, nursing auxiliaries

• Senior physicians, interns, and nurses who have been working in the service for less than three months.

The exploratory interviews will be conducted first in France. The French population will serve as the reference corpus, therefore the saturation threshold of the French reference corpus will determine the size of the corpus of the other countries (see the following section "analysis of the data").

In each country, 10 senior physicians, 10 interns, 10 experienced nurses (with more than one year of experience in the service) and 10 inexperienced nurses (with less than one year of experience in the service) will be solicited for an exploratory interview.

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