When I took this test, I found it striking how our struggle to develop a healthy sense of control and manage overload can impact our lives.
The PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE (PSS), by Sheldon Cohen, is a user-friendly, validated tool for measuring how stressful you find situations in your life. It focuses on how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded you currently feel, with 10 questions rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Higher scores indicated greater perceived stress.
Failing to accept what we cannot control, setting ambitious yet unrealistic goals, and lacking effective problem-solving methods all works against us. Add poor time management, inability to delegate, reluctance to ask for help, and neglecting self-care to the mix, and we could easily end up with a sense of helplessness and anxiety.
THE IRONY IS WE ALL NEED A BIT DOSE OF STRESS TO GET THINGS MOVING!
When managed effectively, Stress can actually be a great driver to improve focus, motivation and performance. It can help us meet deadlines, tackle challenges and achieve goals by keeping us engaged and energized.
How PSS works
The questions in this scale focus on your emotions and thoughts over the past month. For each question, you will need to specify how often you experienced or thought about something in a particular way. While some questions may appear similar, each one is distinct and should be answered individually. It’s best to respond relatively quickly—don’t worry about precisely counting how often you felt a certain way; instead, choose the option that feels like a reasonable estimate.
These are the questions:
To make it convenient, you can easily take the PSS Online here:
◼MDApp: https://lnkd.in/drUeXA5K
Figuring Your PSS Score
Or you can also determine your PSS score manually by following these directions:
• First, reverse your scores for questions 4, 5, 7, and 8 on the table above.
• On these 4 questions, change the scores like this:
0 = 4
1 = 3
2 = 2
3 = 1
4 = 0
• Now add up your scores for each item to get a total. My total score is ___________.
• Individual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress.
· Scores ranging from 0-13 would be considered low stress.
· Scores ranging from 14-26 would be considered moderate stress.
· Scores ranging from 27-40 would be considered high perceived stress.
The Perceived Stress Scale is valuable because it highlights the significance of how you perceive events in your life. Imagine two people who have gone through the exact same situations over the past month. Depending on how each person views and interprets those events, one might end up with a low stress score, while the other could have a high stress score. This demonstrates that your perception plays a crucial role in determining your stress levels.
References:
◼Cohen, S., Kamarck, T. and Mermelstein, R., 1983. A global measure of perceived stress.Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), pp.385-396.
◼Fabritius, F. and Hagemann, H.W., 2017. The Leading Brain: Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance. New York: Tarcher Perigee.
◼ Chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.das.nh.gov/wellness/docs/percieved%20stress%20scale.pdf
Comments