Measures of stress in epidemiological research.
A comprehensive assessment of psychosocial stress often poses significant challenges due to diversity in conceptualization of stress. Consequently, a number of instruments that measure psychosocial stress, its stressors, and its impact at the individual, organizational, and societal levels have been developed. This article aims to provide a brief review of such instruments, focusing on established questionnaire and interview measures in line with the environmentalist and psychological conceptualizations of stress. This includes measures of major life events; work, marital, and social stress; the individual's coping abilities; and psychological and somatic outcomes of stress. We provide a general description of selected instruments and discuss their administration, scoring, and psychometric properties. Appropriate application of these instruments in epidemiological and clinical research, as well as in inpatient care, can aid the detection of psychosocial stress, support thorough assessment and management of the individual's illness, and ensure accurate identification of individuals who would benefit from specific behavioral (psychotherapeutic) interventions.
Kopp
Mária S
MS
Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. kopmar@net.sote.hu
Thege
Barna Konkolÿ
BK
Balog
Piroska
P
Stauder
Adrienne
A
Salavecz
Gyöngyvér
G
Rózsa
Sándor
S
Purebl
György
G
Adám
Szilvia
S
D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008016:Life Change Events; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000523:psychology; D009426:Netherlands; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult