Psychological stress measure (PSM-9): Integration of an evidence-based approach to assessment, monitoring, and evaluation of stress in physical therapy practice

Abstract

Stress can be a primary or secondary contributor to ill health via excessive and sustained sympathetic arousal leading to ischemic heart disease, hypertension, stroke, obesity, and mental ill health, or through related behaviors such as smoking, substance abuse, and over or inappropriate eating; or as a contextual variable in terms of risk factor and lifestyle outcome. In addition, psychosocial stress can impair recovery from any pathological insult or injury. Most assessments of stress relate to life events, and both past and current life stressors, acute and chronic, play a major role. However, beyond the impact of stressors, it is the reported state of feeling stressed that is the critical predictor of ill health. This article describes stress and its correlates, discusses models of stress, and presents the nine-item Psychological Stress Measure (PSM-9). This tool is aimed directly at the state of feeling stressed, is suited for assessing stress clinically in the general population and serving as an outcome measure. The tool is valid and reliable and easy to administer in health care settings; it has a normal distribution, which makes it a very sensitive-to-change instrument in repeated measures to document progress.

Postpartum psychosocial distress and late preterm delivery

“…The test consists of statements reflecting somatic, behavioural, and cognitive-affective responses to various situations of serenity or stress. This tool has been validated in individuals of varying socioeconomic status and is considered valid, reliable, and user-friendly even in health care settings (Lemyre & Lalande-Markon, 2009). Shorter versions (used in this study) were developed in response to research needs, yielding reliability as high as .89 (Lemyre & Tessier, 2003).…”

Factor analysis of the 9-item Psychological Stress Measure in a French Canadian non-clinical student sample

“…It includes items such as: "I feel preoccupied, tormented or worried; I feel confused; My thoughts are muddled; I lack concentration and I cannot focus my atten- (Lemyre and Tessier, 1988) 4 . The creation of the PSM-9 was intended for general surveys of health and well-being in the workplace, large companies such as Hydro-Québec (public utility managing electricity) or Renault (French automobile maker) and in public service and hospitals (Lemyre, 2009) 9 . The 9 items version has also been created to fi t the need for academic research and other various applications (Lemyre, Tessier, 2003) 3 .…”

“…Other studies suggest that students are also at risk for negative stress impacts (Dumont, Leclerc and Deslandes, 2003) 8 . A high level of stress can also lead to many problems such as low satisfaction rate in life, cardiac diseases, cerebrovascular stroke and hypertension (Lemyre & Lalande-Markon, 2009) 9 . This medical perspective revealed physiological stress correlates such as blood and saliva immunoglobulin (Fillion, Tessier, Tawadros and Mouton, 1989) 10 .…”

“…This medical perspective revealed physiological stress correlates such as blood and saliva immunoglobulin (Fillion, Tessier, Tawadros and Mouton, 1989) 10 . Feeling stressed is related to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the release of adrenaline, activation of heart pulse, constriction of blood vessels, high blood pressure, and increased breathing (Lemyre and al., 2009) 9 . These symptoms show the impact of stress on health and support the use of the Psychological Stress Measure (PSM) as a preventive tool to assess the presence of stress manifestations.…”

“…According to the authors, the reported state of feeling stressed is a critical predictor of ill health (Lemyre and al., 2009) 9 . This instrument is aimed to refl ect aff ective, cognitive, behavioral and somatic components of the stress.…”