Stress has been referred to as the malady of the new millennium.  Articles on stress have been appearing in magazines and newspapers almost as often as articles on new ways to lose weight. Seminars, classes and clinics for helping people cope with stress overload are springing up in hospitals, physician family practice groups, business and industry, universities and community colleges, mental health clinics, and independent agencies. As additional links between life stress and physical illness are demonstrated, and as the health care industry focuses increasingly on preventing illness and maintaining wellness, stress management programs assume even more importance.

Methods of assessing the individual’s physiological strengths and weaknesses, such as the stress EKG, tests of endurance or aerobic capacity, cholesterol count, blood pressure, etc., are readily available. However, analysis of stress-producing behaviors and beliefs (which many feel lie at the root of the problem) is more difficult. Such assessment must rely on brief scales covering only one or two areas of a person’s life, or on instruments developed to detect problems more severe than most people experience in daily life.

The Stress Assessment Profile has been developed to fill that gap in stress assessment and management programs by providing a comprehensive, simple- to-administer instrument, which complements physiological assessments.
 

The Stress Management Profile is designed to be a stress and coping "check-up" for normal, healthy adults, rather than a diagnostic tool for those in need of therapy. Its focus is on prevention of illness and enhancement of the quality of life. It is based on the premise that everyone experiences excess stress in some areas of their lives at some times in their lives, and that personal information about one’s own sources and symptoms of stress is the first step toward positive change.  

While the individualized profile is the end product of this process, it is the beginning for the individual seeking to improve his/her ability to cope with life stress. The profile allows the individual to determine (alone or in consultation with a professional) areas of his/her life which would benefit from change, and to focus on specific aspects of those areas which are causing distress. If the individual embarks on a program of change through classes, groups, reading, counseling, etc., the Stress Management Profile can serve as a periodic "check-up" to assess improvement.

The Stress Management Profile is an extensive series of questions and scales to which one responds and requires approximately 50-75 minutes to complete.

The questions and scales examine various potentially stress inducing aspects of the individual’s life, gather information on specific symptoms of stress the person is experiencing, and explore the coping strategies he/she uses.

The individual’s initial responses determine questions and scales to be presented later in the inventory. The questions are direct and ask the respondent to rate his/her own feelings, concerns, experiences, and activities in specific areas. No attempt is made to mislead or "trick" the respondent, or to elicit information he/she is unaware of providing. Respondents report finding the process of taking the Stress Management Profile interesting and engaging.

The Stress Management Profile then compiles the information provided by the respondent and compares it to norms derived from answers provided to similar questions by large experimental populations. In addition, responses are sorted and combined to provide the individual with a stress profile detailing particular strengths and weaknesses.

The Stress Management Profile produces a twelve- to sixteen-page print-out. It provides the recipient with organized, specific information about his/her sources of stress, symptoms of stress, and strategies of coping with stress. It includes suggestions for changing behavior in some areas, and for recognizing personal strengths in other areas.

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