Psychological Measure Of Stress Research Paper Example

Stress Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)

The Stress Assessment questionnaire measures stress using an individual’s background and experiences. It helps the individual understand their situation better and decide whether they should speak to a counselor. There were 128 questions with the results being calculated online (Athanasou, 2010). The results of SAQ helps an individual to know the source, signs, treatment and control measures for stress. The results are given on a scale of 1 to 10. An advantage of using SAQ is that it provides results that are easy to understand, gives the results quickly hence saving time. One only needs approximately 20 minutes to do the test. Overall, SAQ is easy to use as long as one is computer literate. SAQ can be used to measure stress on a wide range of settings, including employment and hospitals this makes it more common especially because there are other questionnaires can only be used in a single setting. In relation to stress, SAQ gives results in four categories: source, signs, treatment, and control. This is unlike other stress assessments that measure for one or two of these categories (Athanasou, 2010).
Although the Stress Assessment Questionnaire has many benefits it likewise pitfalls in some areas. SAQ does not define correctly the domain that it uses. In addition, it fails to give the same the results using its scale. It calculates the results using an out of date method instead of the latest theory. It does not give correct results for respondents over 25,000; therefore, it should be used in organizations and not hospitals. However, it can be used to identify the type of stress, just the basics, but not as a treatment guide for the patient (Athanasou, 2010).

NEO Personality Inventory-3

The NEO Personality Inventory measures stress using five domains (Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) (Benson, 2005) and 30 aspects of an individual’s personality traits (Benson, 2005). It has 240 questions that one can easily finish in less than 30 minutes. However, this duration may be longer for illiterate respondents. This assessment mainly targets high school students and teenagers since it uses simple language. The answers are given on a scale of 1 to 5. NEO Personality Inventory can be used by one person or a group of people and is accessible in more than 50 languages (Benson, 2005). As a group each individual is given either form S or form R or the NEO-FFI-3. This test is conducted manually where the respondent a booklet and an answer form according to his age, length, and test scores preferred. NEO Personality Inventory likewise gives the meaning of 28 words, which may not be familiar to the respondents. Tests that are done manually are marked using the hand-scorable response form while those done using a computer, are marked using a computer scoring. NEOFFI-3, a version of NEO personality inventory is available only in manual form, while the marking for the whole test takes about 5 minutes (Benson, 2005). The highest score for The NEO Personality Inventory- NEO-PI-3 is 35 marks plus the grading of the 5 domains while NEO Personality Inventory- NEO-FFI-3 only gives the grading of the 5 domains (Benson, 2005). NEO-PI-3 and NEO-FFI-3 the latest forms of NEO Personality Inventory, which is collectively referred to as NEOs-3 (Benson, 2005).
The Stress Assessment Questionnaire used a sample of 10,000 males and females distributed equally. These participants were middle aged, that is the average age was 34 years (Athanasou, 2010). These 10,000 participants were chosen from a population of 25,000 people. The Stress Assessment Questionnaire population was valid. On the other hand, the NEO Personality Inventory-3 used 500 teenagers of between 14-20 years old and 635 adults of between 21-91 years old, these participants included both male and female. The NEO Personality Inventory was invalid because the African American community was not represented (Benson, 2005).

References

Athanasou, J, (2010). Stress Assessment Questionnaire. Review of the Stress Assessment Questionnaire by MySkillsProfile.com. Mental Measurements Yearbook 2010. Print
Benson,N(2005). NEO Personality Inventory-3. Review of the NEO Personality Inventory-3 by McCrae, Robert R.; Costa, Paul T., Jr, Mental Measurements Yearbook, 1978-2010. Print