Stress responses can be measured with self-report measures, behavioral coding, or through physiological measurements. These responses include emotions, cognitions,. Several measures have been designed to capture stress over a shorter period of time, including the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Stress Overload Scale (SOS), among others (Table. The most commonly used measure for evaluating global perceptions of stress is the 10-item PSS15. This survey reflects the degree to which a person considers their life to be uncontrollable, unpredictable and overburdened for the past month.
The scores are calculated using a five-point scale (0 = never, 1 = rarely, 2 = occasionally, 3 = frequently and 4 = very often) that is added together to obtain a total score, where higher scores represent a higher level of perceived stress. The PSS has been translated into a variety of languages,22,23, allowing it to be used in both English and non-English speaking populations. As an alternative to PSS, SOS was designed to measure times when stress overwhelms a person's survival mechanisms 13. Twenty-four statements refer to personal vulnerability and the burden of events, and an additional six points are used to discourage inconsistent responses. There is also a shorter version of the SOS (10 items), 24 Each of the statements is evaluated on a 5-point graded response scale (1 = nothing, 5 = a lot) to investigate the feelings and experiences of the previous week.
