At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale.
The visual analogue scale (VAS) is widely used in clinical practice by occupational physicians to assess perceived stress in workers. However, a single cut-off (black-or-white decision) inadequately discriminates between workers with and without stress. We explored an innovative statistical approach...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2017-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5460813?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1811209049569492992 |
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| author | Frédéric Dutheil Bruno Pereira Farès Moustafa Geraldine Naughton François-Xavier Lesage Céline Lambert |
| author_facet | Frédéric Dutheil Bruno Pereira Farès Moustafa Geraldine Naughton François-Xavier Lesage Céline Lambert |
| author_sort | Frédéric Dutheil |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The visual analogue scale (VAS) is widely used in clinical practice by occupational physicians to assess perceived stress in workers. However, a single cut-off (black-or-white decision) inadequately discriminates between workers with and without stress. We explored an innovative statistical approach to distinguish an at-risk population among stressed workers, and to establish a threshold over which an action is urgently required, via the use of two cut-offs.Participants were recruited during annual work medical examinations by a random sample of workers from five occupational health centres. We previously proposed a single cut-off of VAS stress in comparison with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS14). Similar methodology was used in the current study, along with a gray zone approach. The lower limit of the gray zone supports sensitivity ("at-risk" threshold; interpreted as requiring closer surveillance) and the upper limit supports specificity (i.e. "intervention" threshold-emergency action required).We included 500 workers (49.6% males), aged 40±11 years, with a PSS14 score of 3.8±1.4 and a VAS score of 4.0±2.4. Using a receiver operating characteristic curve and the PSS cut-off score of 7.2, the optimal VAS threshold was 6.8 (sensitivity = 0.89, specificity = 0.87). The lower and upper thresholds of the gray zone were 5 and 8.2, respectively.We identified two clinically relevant cut-offs on the VAS of stress: a first cut-off of 5.0 for an at-risk population, and a second cut-off of 8.2 over which an action is urgently required. Future investigations into the relationships between this upper threshold and deleterious events are required. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T04:32:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cd81f8c0cdcb4f92bddffe34e640d96a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T04:32:49Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-cd81f8c0cdcb4f92bddffe34e640d96a2022-12-22T03:47:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01126e017894810.1371/journal.pone.0178948At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale.Frédéric DutheilBruno PereiraFarès MoustafaGeraldine NaughtonFrançois-Xavier LesageCéline LambertThe visual analogue scale (VAS) is widely used in clinical practice by occupational physicians to assess perceived stress in workers. However, a single cut-off (black-or-white decision) inadequately discriminates between workers with and without stress. We explored an innovative statistical approach to distinguish an at-risk population among stressed workers, and to establish a threshold over which an action is urgently required, via the use of two cut-offs.Participants were recruited during annual work medical examinations by a random sample of workers from five occupational health centres. We previously proposed a single cut-off of VAS stress in comparison with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS14). Similar methodology was used in the current study, along with a gray zone approach. The lower limit of the gray zone supports sensitivity ("at-risk" threshold; interpreted as requiring closer surveillance) and the upper limit supports specificity (i.e. "intervention" threshold-emergency action required).We included 500 workers (49.6% males), aged 40±11 years, with a PSS14 score of 3.8±1.4 and a VAS score of 4.0±2.4. Using a receiver operating characteristic curve and the PSS cut-off score of 7.2, the optimal VAS threshold was 6.8 (sensitivity = 0.89, specificity = 0.87). The lower and upper thresholds of the gray zone were 5 and 8.2, respectively.We identified two clinically relevant cut-offs on the VAS of stress: a first cut-off of 5.0 for an at-risk population, and a second cut-off of 8.2 over which an action is urgently required. Future investigations into the relationships between this upper threshold and deleterious events are required.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5460813?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Frédéric Dutheil Bruno Pereira Farès Moustafa Geraldine Naughton François-Xavier Lesage Céline Lambert At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale. PLoS ONE |
| title | At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale. |
| title_full | At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale. |
| title_fullStr | At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale. |
| title_full_unstemmed | At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale. |
| title_short | At-risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale. |
| title_sort | at risk and intervention thresholds of occupational stress using a visual analogue scale |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5460813?pdf=render |
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