The mobile photographic stress meter (MPSM): a new way to measure stress using images.

Stress is an important aspect of human psychology. Many measures of stress have been developed over the years, but different issues exist for most of these measures. This study introduces the Mobile Photographic Stress Meter (MPSM), a new way to measure stress in which a user simply selects an image that best captures his or her stress level. Such a tool allows researchers to quickly measure stress in real time and in natural environments less onerous for the user. Our results show that MPSM is a valid measure of stress. Users find it easy and actually enjoyable to use. Our results also show that MPSM is strongly correlated with the Perceived Stress Scale, a validated multi-item stress scale. The correlation has an r-value of 0.5559 and a p-value of less than 0.001. We conclude that MPSM can be applied effectively in research experiments and advance the research on stress.