Usefulness of the English version of the Stress Overload Scale in a sample of employed South Africans

Charles H Van Wijk

doi:10.4102/ajopa.v3i0.41

Abstract

Amidst reports of high levels of stress in South Africa, it remained difficult to quantify psychological stress in the absence of locally validated measures. This study explored the English version of the Stress Overload Scale (SOS) in a South African sample. The first aim was to replicate the basic psychometric analysis of the original English version used in American samples, as well as the Setswana version used in a South African rural community setting. The second aim was to investigate criterion validity to determine its appropriateness for use in South Africa. A total of 2136 employed South Africans with at least 9 years of schooling participated in this study. Participants completed a range of mental health and well-being measures, both clinical and dispositional. Responses were analysed to examine both scale characteristics and validity indices related to the SOS. Little sociodemographic influence (age, gender and first language) was found, with analyses supporting validity across most indices. Furthermore, good predictive ability for mental (ill-) health was observed. This study, for the most part, replicated previous validation findings of the SOS. Validity was further confirmed by correlating the scale with measures of clinical mental health and dispositional well-being. Given the positive support to its validity, when used amongst employed South Africans with at least 9 years of education, the scale holds promise for application in local health-related research, for triage in primary healthcare contexts and for measuring outcomes of mental health interventions in therapeutic settings.

Highlights

Headlines such as ‘South Africa second most stressed country in world’ (City Press, 2019) or ‘Work stress cost SA R40 billion’ (Business Report, 2016) certainly have shock value and, whilst seemingly intended to attract readers’ curiosity, are based on truth
Stress is the degree to which a person feels overwhelmed or unable to cope as a result of pressures that are perceived as unmanageable (Mental Health Foundation, 2018)
The sample consisted of 2136 employed South Africans, with a mean age of 34.0 years (± 8.4); of whom 19.8% reported English as their first language

Summary

Introduction

Headlines such as ‘South Africa second most stressed country in world’ (City Press, 2019) or ‘Work stress cost SA R40 billion’ (Business Report, 2016) certainly have shock value and, whilst seemingly intended to attract readers’ curiosity, are based on (some) truth. The issue of how stress is understood locally in South Africa (SA) has been brought into sharp focus during the recent coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, where individuals had to face challenges from finding adequate shelter and food to managing social isolation and anxiety about the future. Against this backdrop, psychologists are often asked questions such as ‘what is stress?’ or ‘how do psychologists measure stress?’. Stress is the degree to which a person feels overwhelmed or unable to cope as a result of pressures that are perceived as unmanageable (Mental Health Foundation, 2018)

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