The Effects of Systematic Self-Monitoring, Feedback, and Collaborative Assessment on Stress Reduction

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to test the potential efficacy of an online stress management intervention, the daily diary; to develop and test a personalized feedback intervention for the diary; and to test the effectiveness of an empirically-supported, cognitive behavioral stress management program when augmented with collaborative assessment procedures. Based on the assumptions of a stepped-care model, I hypothesized that each more intensive intervention would lead to added benefits in terms of stress reduction, increased positive affect, and decreased negative affect. 111 undergraduate students who scored 20 or higher on the Perceived Stress Scale participated in either the diary + feedback intervention (n = 33), the CA-enhanced stress management training (n = 43), or the control condition (n = 35). Ninety participants (81.1%) completed their allocated intervention and 75 (67.6%) completed the post-study assessment. Our results pointed to a significant association between diary adherence and stress reduction (r = .31), and suggested that, when compared to a control group, CA-enhanced SMT produced moderate decreases in stress (d = .45). To our knowledge, this is the first study to use an online daily diary as a stress management intervention and the first to test ongoing collaborative assessment as an adjunct to evidence-based psychotherapy.