title: Validity of occupational stress assessment using a visual analogue scale.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The visual analogue scale (VAS) is empirically used by occupational physicians to assess stress but very few studies have been published about its quantitative validation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the external validity of the VAS for the assessment of stress in the clinical occupational health setting by comparing its scores with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) of Cohen.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous self-completed questionnaire (PSS14) and the VAS were filled in by a random sample of 360 workers from several occupational health centres.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No difference between the mean scores of PSS14 and stress VAS was found. The equation of the linear regression was 'VAS score = -0.18 + 1008 × PSS14 score'. A VAS score of 7.0 was identified as having the best sensitivity/specificity ratio (0.74 and 0.93, respectively) for identifying those with 'high stress' using the PSS cut-off score of 7.2, using a receiver operator curve approach.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results support an acceptable agreement between the two tests, meaning that the two tools assess the same psychological construct. The good sensitivity/specificity ratio and the area under the curve close to 1 provide evidence that a VAS is suitable to help the occupational physician detect a high level of stress. The use of a VAS for stress assessment seems to be meaningful, suitable and useful for occupational physicians.
authors.affiliation: Unité Fonctionnelle pathologie professionnelle et sante au travail, hospital Sébastopol, 48 rue de Sébastopol, 51092 Reims cedex, France. fxlesage@chu-reims.fr
authors.forename: F X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Lesage
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berjot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*