Use of Mental Stress Management/Relaxation Techniques

 

In the past week (even if it was NOT a typical week), how many times did you do mental stress management or relaxation techniques? None
________ times
     Describe the mental stress management technique(s) you used: ___________________

Scoring

This is a single item. If the technique described is not a cognitive symptom management technique, code as "0". Cognitive techniques include imagery, prayer, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation. Reading, watching TV, listening to music, etc, are not considered cognitive techniques. To score the item, categorize the number of times into an ordinal scales with these categories:
     1 = None
     2 = 1-7 times/week
     3 = 8 or more times/week

This item can also be left as a continuous measure, using the actual times coded.

Characteristics

Tested on 1,129 subjects with chronic disease. N=51 for test-retest.

No. of
items
Observed
Range

Mean
Standard
Deviation
Internal Consistency
Reliability
Test-Retest
Reliability
1
1-3
1.28
.53
.66

Source of Psychometric Data

Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Study. Psychometrics reported in: Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, p.25

Comments

Another way that you can use this scale is to separate out the use of cognitive and non-cognitive techniques that one uses. We have never used the scale in this way but it seems like a reasonable possible use. This item available in Spanish.

References

Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, pp.25,38.

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