A pilot study on the feasibility of the Stress Perception Measure (SPM) for students with intellectual disabilities

Social skill is one of the greatest concerns of special education professionals and parents of students with intellectual disabilities (ID). One of the causes associated with inappropriate behaviors may be the stress experienced by these students.
Some of the possible causes of the stress are the pressure of expectations, the challenge of imposed daily tasks, and feelings of inadequacy when they are unable to handle the tasks. Both professionals and parents have a limited understanding regarding the causes of this stress. Moreover, few instruments are currently available that can measure the level of stress that students with ID experience.
This pilot study tested a feasibility of the newly developed Stress Perception Measure (SPM) on students with ID. The Cronbach’s Alpha on items in the SPM was .81 indicating SPM had good internal consistency. The results also found the significant correlation between the stress scores measured by the SPM and the adapted behavior. It tentatively demonstrated good feasibility of the SPM in investigating the level and the sources of the stress of students with ID.