Amazon Stressmaster Stressmaster Category:  Health/Wellness Publisher: Stressmaster ISBN-10:  0970188161 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 48 Copyright: May 29, 1980 ISBN-13: 9780970188168 The Stress Mastery Questionnaire (SMQ™), previously titled the Stress Management Questionnaire, is one of the first scientifically developed stress assessment tool used by trainers, coaches, consultants and by individuals for personal self-development and stress mastery. The SMQ is the "gold standard" for stress assessment as it mirrors modern stress management theory and practice; it provides specific information on one's unique stressors, physical and emotional stress effects and seven warning signs of stress. The SMQ is part of total Stress Mastery Program that has been developed over the past 30 years through research and use by trainers, consultants and mental health professionals throughout the world. To date over 600,000 people in over 15 countries have benefited from taking the SMQ and it has been translated into Spanish, French, Norwegian and Slovenian and is available online or print. In essence, the SMQ™ helps one understand the nature of his or her stress and, with the companion Stressmastery Guide, develop a deeper understanding how to master stress. Given the information provided by the SMQ, perhaps facilitated by good coaching from trainers or other mental health professionals, anyone can learn to become more stress resilient and psychologically hardy. The Stress Management Questionnaire (SMQ), now titled the Stress Mastery Questionnaire,  was designed and created by Dr. James Petersen in 1976 and subsequently researched and validated through a grant from NIOSH (1982). The name was changed in 2016 to reflect the more powerful connotation of the word Mastery. The SMQ™ is one of the first scientifically researched and validated stress self-assessment tools in the US and has become the “gold standard” of both individual and company stress management programs. It is now being made available to the public. As such, the SMQ is a proven successful stress self-assessment tool that be used as a stand-alone self-development program or it can be integrated into virtually any stress program or clinical setting. The SMQ comes in two forms; print and online. The print version of the SMQ™ is 48 page booklet used successfully by companies, organizations, government agencies and by individuals worldwide. Each SMQ assessment comes with a comprehensive Stressmastery Guide (42pp) which provides detailed information about each of the 11 scales and, also, evidence-based stress mastery strategies, techniques and ways to master stress. With this information anyone can learn how to master stress. The SMQ profiles a person on 11 unique stress “risk” scales based on their responses to the questionnaire items. The 11 scales fall into the following three (3) major domains:   STRESS WARNING SIGNS SCALES   Anger/Hostility Perfectionism Time Orientation Burnout Disappointment Underachievement Tension   STRESSORS   Life Events - Major Events of Life Hassles - Small Daily Life Challenges   STRESS EFFECTS  Physical Stress Effects •Life Work Satisfaction - Emotional               Excerpt The Interpretive Guide helps you to evaluate the results obtained by completing and scoring the SMQ™. This Guide provides information on the meaning of each scale and offers suggestions on what to do when you score high on a given scale. Keep in mind that no questionnaire or assessment alone can give you a complete view of how well you are mastering stress. The SMQ™ is one approach, which many have found useful for learning new ways to create a more stress-free life. Use good common sense and make your own determination as to the "risk” associated with a given high scale score. If you think there is a challenge or problem in your life, independent of this assessment, then take action to solve or improve your situation. The Stressmaster Guide also provides proven stressmastery approaches and techniques, as well as guidelines for learning how to master stress more effectively. For each section, tips and ideas are presented on ways to master stress more effectively. The goal of Stressmaster™ is to help you learn new and effective ways of mastering stress.

Stress Management Program
I’ve been using the SMQ for over the last 14 months and have given it to about 750 people. It has been extremely useful in our Stress Management Program and I’ve received much positive feedback from the Participants. Some remarks have been:

‘The (SMQ) guide has helped me change my life.’

‘I get better insight every time I go through the Report and Guide.’

‘The SMQ helped me know myself a lot better. I’m a better manager because of that.”

These remarks make me feel good about the effectiveness of the instrument as we apply it in the Stress Management Program.”

PD - Training Psychologist for a large State Agency


Corporate Stress Program
What has consistently been commented on in regard to the SMQ is the participants seeing how their companions rate them, compared to their own self evaluations. Longer-term married couples tend to mirror each other on the graph, while there are often big disparities between self and companion on those in less structured relationships, or less intimate relationships (i.e. siblings, friends, co-workers). Also, many remarked that they did not know they were as affected by stress until seeing the SMQ. I think stress is a badge of honor among some--if you are not stressed, you are not working hard enough. The SMQ allows them to see the importance of balance between work/home and the need for decompression "me" time. I think the SMQ has been a great educational tool in the fact that participants realize that stress is more of an enemy of productivity (professionally and personally) then they had previously believed.

One of the key areas we focus on in our District Manager training is for the participants to not only address their stress, but also help their direct-reports (Store Managers and CSRs) with stress. From my perspective, I would like to see more on Stress in the Workplace included in future SMQs. Perhaps a SMQ-C for a supervisor's direct reports to fill out (SMQ-DR?), to evaluate how that manager reacts to stress while in the workplace. As it is now, the Companion form works best with someone more intimate than most work relationships.

As mentioned, this remains a very popular course. Right now we are projecting about 50 participants this year, but there is a possibility we will offer this as part of a stand-alone program (as opposed to a block of instruction in a 5-day course).
Chris
Large Convenience Store Chain


International Stress Consultancy
I am one of a small team of Training & Development consultants here at Capita who provide a number of stand-alone courses in addition to our more bespoke consultancy work. One of these courses is Peak Performance Under Pressure - designed to help people to understand a little more of the nature of stress, their stressors, their stress response, and exploring preventative measures and coping mechanisms.

The SMQ is used within the context of this course. Delegate feedback has been universally very positive, ranging from the benefit of having one's self-awareness reinforced, through to some real epiphanies.

On a personal note, I have found the SMQ to be a robust, informative tool, based on sound theory and practice. I am definitely an advocate of the Stressmaster philosophy!
JL (UK Consultancy)