Computer-assisted measurement of perceived stress: an application for a community-based survey

The assessment of stress is a key issue in health promotion policies as well as in treatment strategies for patients. The aim of this study was to confirm the accessibility and reliability of computer-assisted data collection for perceived stress measurement, using the Japanese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (JPSS), within the setting of a community-based survey. There were two groups of participants in this survey. One group responded to a Web-based application, and the other to the VBA of a spreadsheet software. The total scores of JPSS were almost normally distributed. The means of total scores of JPSS were 23.6 and 23.1. These results were lower than the previous study of JPSS. Since Cronbach's alpha coefficients in both surveys were more than 0.8, high reliability was demonstrated despite a number of computer-illiterate and/or aged participants. They felt that the spreadsheet form was easier to respond to. Two components were extracted with the Varimax rotation of principal component analysis, and these were named "perception of stress and stressors" and "behavior to stress". This finding suggests that it is possible to determine sub-scales. From the viewpoint of preventive medicine, it is expected that the JPSS applications will be utilized to investigate the relationship between stress and other factors such as lifestyle, environment and quality of life.