Holmes And Rahe Stress Scale

Humans frequently turn on the stress response that was intended to assist our survival in reaction to the everyday challenges we face. Professor Michael Marmot conducted a study in England of 28,000 people’s health over a course of 40 years. Each person was a British

Within the MyManagmentLab for the Managing People in Organizations, class there is a section called Personal Inventory Assessments. These are short questionnaires to evaluate different aspects of a person’s life. I did multiple ones but the three personal inventory assessments I found most useful where the stress management assessment, the self-awareness assessment and the time management assessment. The stress management quiz analyzed how I manage and react during stressful situations with my results being 24. My results said that I have a high resilience to stress and do not get worried very easily, however, I am not very effective at eliminating stress or developing coping strategies when I do ultimately get stressed. I can definitely relate to this because when I am stressed about something, I usually just give up on it and quit or push it off until the last minute, which usually results in more stress.

The Family Systems Stressor-Strength Inventory (FS3I) is an instrument used to evaluate and measure stressful conditions occurring in families and assists nurses and families in developing intervention activities. By using this instrument, strengths and weaknesses of family functioning can be identified. The FS3I involves independent completion of the instrument by each member of the family prior to the interview with the clinician. After completion of the instrument, the clinician assesses the family on each of the stressful conditions from a general and specific perspective. The strengths and coping mechanisms of the family are also evaluated. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used to define the intervention needed to establish equilibrium

There are many different broad definitions of stress and how to cope with it, known as stress management.

Stress can come from anything we do in our daily lives, even if it is a positive or negative change. To measure the amount of stress a single event can cause two men named Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe came up with the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Over time this scale has been modified to accommodated for

16. In contrast to the conclusions reached by early stress researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe, contemporary health psychologists now believe that: A) to improve its predictive power, the Social Readjustment Rating Scale needs to be expanded from 43 life events to 125 life events. B) positive life events, such as vacations or marriage, have a

(February 2014) Similar to this study I used a stress scale although, I reduced mine to a scale between: 1-5. “5” being the highest level of stress. The Stress in America study used a Perceived Stress Scale that participants self-monitored their stress levels by answering where they would answer such questions as “how often have you felt irritable and angry in the last month” and they could answer,(very often, sometimes, never etc.) For my purposes I asked myself the following three questions and used the following rating system to determine my stress levels that day.(Angus, n.d.)

The events or situations that can produce stress are called stressors. To measure the amount of stress a single event can cause two men named Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe came up wit this idea of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. This scale “includes 43 life events” each event comes with a point value for the amount of stress that each event should given. However more than “150 life change units within a year had an increased rate of physical or psychological illness”. Over time this scale has been modified to accommodated for gender, age, martial status, and individual characteristics. Even with the modifications made, the way each person copes with stress is quite different therefore this scale does not apply to the majority of people. Likewise this scale did help research to find that “negative life events have a more adverse effect on health than a positive event.”. Therefore traumatic events “ are events or situations that are negative; serve, and far beyond our normal expectation for everyday life or life events.” These negative events can cause extreme stress on a person which can lead to health issues. For instance PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder can cause anxiety, nervousness, sleep disturbances, and irritability. To help to resolve the health issues that come with stress many try to develop resilience. Though contrary to popular belief the

The higher the score the less stressful the week was, and the less the score the more stressful your week has been. This stress scale has really opened the eyes of individuals based on how just one intervention can change the stress scale score tremendously. The Perceived Stress Scale is very valuable when determining how stressed and individual is each week. Cohen (1994) stated, “ A Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is supposed to very effective, easy to understand, and alternatives are easy to grasp.” So, therefore, the PSS helps evaluate the stress levels of individuals per

Kelly McGonigal discusses the importance of viewing stress as positive, as opposed to negative, by detailing three specific studies and findings about stress. In the first study, it was discovered that people with a significant amount of stress had a higher mortality rate; however, this was only statistically significant if the subject viewed stress as harmful. If the overly-stressed subject didn’t view stress as harmful, they were actually at the lowest risk of dying, even compared to those with a minimal amount. Therefore, it is important to change a person’s perspective of stress. In particular, McGonigal emphasizes that stress is important for a person’s body: it energizes and prepares them to meet whatever challenge they are facing. Furthermore, it helps the blood vessels remain relaxed, thereby allowing the heart to remain healthy.

When thinking about Evicted and the different chapters we have learned about in class, the first chapter that came to my mind as relating most to Evicted was the chapter Stress and Health. Many topics in that chapter appeared in the book and related to many of the problems that the characters were facing in Evicted. The characters in the book had stressors that affected them in their daily lives, which also caused many health problems in the long run.

However, had not expected the results received. This test said “EMERGENCY!!!” and that my health and wellness is in serious danger. Results indicated that being my life is under a lot of stress and that I may not possess the tools to effectively manage it (“How Vulnerable Are You To Stress?”, n,d,). This in itself was mind-blowing; I thought I was in total control of my mind and soul. Then this test site went on to give me links to fact sheets, stress solutions, even online health coaching tools. I read on about the stimulants, facts about sleep, breathing, exercise, the importance of time to yourself, thinking of yourself first, and many more. Lastly, stating I must stop and re-evaluate the causes; stepping back and look at what is causing all this stress and see what can be done to change it. I realized then what exactly it was and now to figure out how to stop the worrying processes of things I have no control over, including my own self, take control and just be ok with it,

After marking the points for the Holmes-Rahe life stress inventory and reading what the point value means, I definitely disagree with the assessment. There are two reasons I disagree with the inventory; the first being, this inventory takes a snapshot of past events and does not reference future factors that may or may not affect the events you had selected. The second reason is, I do not understand how some of the events one the inventory would add a higher chance of having a stress related health breakdown. For example, a promotion, vacation, or holidays should be life events which lowers stress for an individual. I agree that individuals deal with life events and stress in different ways, which is why I believe inventories, health quizzes, and health questions should be tailored to the individual taking them. Perhaps then people will have a more accurate picture in order to properly plan, organize, and prioritize their life events thereby limiting stress and allowing more control over stress related health.

The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale were not surprising to me. My family mean a lot to me and if I had to take a leave of absence or quit my job for a change in the health of a family member, I would. You can’t plan on a family member getting sick this is just something that happens. I would miss my work but I know I can come back to work when the time is right.

Perceived stress may have an impact on an individual’s overall health. Many believe higher perceived stress would lead to more detrimental health impacts or vice versa. However, previous studies have presented mixed results.