The National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), recently gave high ratings to the Pro-Change Stress Management Program.
Supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, the Pro-Change Stress Management Program assists individuals in managing their stress more effectively using practices such as relaxation, time management, and social support activities.
NREPP is an interactive resource for professionals in the fields of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. Their ratings and intervention summaries synthesize and evaluate research so as to help potential users of interventions better understand their scientific evidence base. NREPP rates the quality of the research supporting intervention outcomes and the quality and availability of training and implementation materials on a scale of 0.0 – 4.0.
The Pro-Change Stress Management program received overall ratings ranging from 2.9 – 3.5 for the quality of the research and a 3.8 overall rating for readiness for dissemination. Specific strengths cited included rigorous study design, relatively long-term follow-up (18 months), use of two well-recognized measures of stress and depression, assessors blind to the experimental condition, and appropriate statistical analyses.
Both online and offline versions of the Stress Management program are available for implementation. The program is completely self-directed; no training is required. Technical assistance is available to support users before and during implementation. The computerized nature of the program ensures implementation fidelity, and the interactive computer application allows administrators to monitor program use and progress.
In a clinical trial of the program’s effectiveness, Dr. Kerry Evers of Pro-Change conducted a study of a national sample of adults who received the Stress Management intervention. At the 18-month follow-up, a significantly larger proportion of the treatment group (62%) was effectively managing their stress when compared to the control group. The intervention also produced significant reductions in stress and depression, and an increase in the use of stress management techniques when compared to the control group.
To read the full outcome article see Evers, K.E., Prochaska, J.O., Mauriello, L.M., Padula, J.A. and Prochaska, J.M. (2006). A randomized clinical trial of a population and transtheoretical-based stress management intervention. Health Psychology 25 (4), 521-529. An abstract of this article is available on our Stress Management product page.