Evaluating the Malaise Inventory: a comparison of measures of stress.

The Malaise Inventory developed by Rutter and his colleagues has been widely used to measure the level of stress experienced by mothers of severely disabled children. The results obtained using the Inventory in a survey of 210 mothers with a disabled child are compared with two alternative measures of stress: a scale of symptoms and the taking of medication related to mental health. Most of the Inventory items and the malaise score--the total number of items reported--are moderately correlated with the other measures of stress. The results obtained from two successive surveys of the sample are compared to check the consistency of the findings.