Introduction and Discussion of New Tools for Stress Assessment: Approaches and Tools to Assess Stress Exposure, Stress Reaction and Experience, and Coping With Stress

Modern science understands stress as a complex process, and various aspects thereof have been associated with poor health. However, defining the term still is difficult and available stress assessment tools rely on different conceptualizations and target various aspects of stress. The aim of this dissertation is to clarify stress assessment components; thereby, the focus lies on three gaps in stress assessment. The empirical studies summarized in this thesis aim at closing these gaps by 1) Offering a new life stress assessment tool, 2) Discussing a new multi-modal approach to assess a laboratory stressful task, and 3) Presenting a new developed stimulus-response inventory to assess coping. Study one presents the German version of the ‘Stress and Adversity Inventory’ for adults to assess life stress exposure (Sturmbauer, Shields, et al., 2019). Study two presents an adapted real-life situation as an example for a new stress assessment protocol to experimentally induce arousal by investigating simulated medical consultations (Sturmbauer et al., 2022). Study three presents the ‘Coping Inventory for Medical Situations’ as a new tool to assess cognitive avoidant and vigilant coping addressed for researchers and clinicians working with patients in medical care (Sturmbauer, Hock, et al., 2019). Consequently, the three empirical studies are integrated into current research and matched with a published stress typology for precise stress assessment. Finally, future directions will emphasize the future applicability of the presented tools and conclude this thesis.