title: Projective drawings for assessing stress among subjects with medical symptoms compatible with sick building syndrome, and validation of a modified version of the Stress Load Index from the Drawing Personality Profile: a pilot study.
abstract: It was hypothesized that subjects with medical symptoms would show more signs of stress in projective drawings. A Stress Load Index, including five signs of stress in drawings, was evaluated. A questionnaire with an instruction to draw "a person in the rain" was sent to a cohort of 195 subjects, and the drawings were analysed blindly for eight stress items. Men had a higher index than women (p < .05) and drew clouds more often (p < .05). Drawing of clouds was associated with headache (adjOR = 4.28; 95% CI 1.75; 11.68). Drawing of puddles was associated with ocular symptoms (adjOR = 3.22; 95% CI 1.38, 7.50), facial dermal symptoms (adjOR= 2.94; 95% CI 1.28, 6.81), and tiredness (adjOR = 2.44; 95% CI 1.05, 5.67). Drawing of long rain strokes was associated with nasal symptoms (adjOR = 2.28; 95% CI 1.05, 2.06) and headache (adjOR = 3.20; 95% CI 1.28, 8.05). Age and stress load were predictors of sick building syndrome symptoms (p < .05). In conclusion, a nonverbal projective drawing test detected sex differences which represent directions opposite to those with verbal methods. These need empirical assessment.
authors: Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. roma.runeson@medsci.uu.se
authors: Roma
authors: R
authors: Runeson
authors: Kurt
authors: K
authors: Wahlstedt
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Norbäck
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011386:Projective Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D018877:Sick Building Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology