Related Experiment Videos
Trier Social Stress Test: a method for use in nursing research
Reg Arthur Williams1, Bonnie M Hagerty, Geneal Brooks
1University of Michigan School of Nursing, 400 North Ingalls, Room 4352, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. rawill@umich.edu
Background:
Researchers face the difficulty of inducing psychosocial stress in a laboratory setting using a method that institutional review boards could consider an acceptable research protocol.
Methods:
This article describes the Trier Social Stress Test, a research protocol that can be used to induce psychosocial stress and capture the integrated aspects of an individual's biologic and psychological responses.
Results:
The test involves 15 minutes of psychosocial stress induced by a mock job interview and followed by a mental arithmetic challenge before a panel of three judges. The discomfort associated with performance requirements induces stress in socially acceptable ways that can be measured using physiologic and/or psychological parameters.
Conclusions:
This method allows stress to be induced and measured in a controlled, laboratory setting.