ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the Daily Stress Inventory and subsequently developed Weekly Stress Inventory (WSI) and overview of the various theoretical models of stress. It focuses on minor stressors, and reviews the Daily and WSIs, two scales developed by Paula Rhode Brantley and colleagues to measure the frequency and impact of minor stressors likely to occur on a daily or weekly basis. Chronic illness has been cited as the most prevalent of all the major life stressors. In 1997, Brantley and colleagues published the WSI in order to conduct stress and health-related assessments over intermediate intervals that would bridge the time frames referenced by the Hassles Scales and the Daily Stress Inventory. Assessment of stress can be particularly important in low socioeconomic status and primary care populations, where high prevalence rates of stress-related illness and symptomatology have been observed, and stress-related diseases are associated with both poorer health outcomes and higher healthcare utilization.