Compilation of Objective and Behavioral Indices in Stress Measurement

Background and Aim: Coping with stress is a concern for many people. The main purpose of this study was to design and then normalize the stress assessment questionnaires, which were presented in two different versions of self-reporting and other reports focusing on physical, behavioral and motion characteristics, and, objective indications.
Method: The research population was the staff of a military university in Tehran. The sample consisted of 30 people in the pilot phase and 300 in the main stage of the research.  The self-report stress questionnaire, other-report stress questionnaire were used along with the perceived stress questionnaire. To assess the psychometric properties of these questionnaires, SPSS23 and AMOS23 software were used. The correlation coefficient, factor analysis and content validity index were used to examine the validity of these questionnaires.
Results: The items of the self-report stress questionnaire and other-report stress questionnaire, based on the opinion of experts, had a content validity of over 0.7. Exploratory factor analysis showed that each of these questionnaires had three physical, motion and behavioral factors. Confirmatory factor analysis also showed the fitting of a correlated three-factor model. The validity coefficients for the self-report stress questionnaire and other-report stress questionnaire, calculated by measuring the perceived stress questionnaire were 0.44 and 0.28, respectively (p <0.01). The internal consistency coefficients for the self-report stress questionnaire and other-report stress questionnaire were 0.70 and 0.69, respectively. The two half-tests also showed the reliability of both questionnaires at the level of p <0.01. The cut-off points for the total score of self-report stress questionnaire and other-report stress questionnaire were 90 and 114, respectively.
Conclusions: According to the results, both designed questionnaires have appropriate validity and reliability. The questionnaires can be used to measure the stress and screening of people with traumatic stress and are considered as an objective and subjective indicator of stress measurement.