14. Tagung der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Psychologie

TSST-Home – a new experimental paradigm to induce psychosocial stress in a naturalistic environment

6 Sep 2022, 13:00

1h

Foyer/Cafeteria

Posterpräsentation Postersession 2

Speakers

Nadine Skoluda (Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna) Nida Ali (Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna) Urs M. Nater (Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna; The Stress of Life (SOLE) – Processes and Mechanisms Underlying Everyday Life Stress, University of Vienna)

Description

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a well-established laboratory paradigm aimed to induce acute stress responses. However, its implementation requires a research environment with dedicated personnel (usually at a research institution). In the case of participants not being able to travel to a research institution (due to age, disability, or geographical location), a home version of the TSST is needed. We have developed a TSST-Home version which shares the essential characteristics with the laboratory version, but is distinguished by its highly ecologically valid setting.
For the validation of the efficacy of the TSST, thirty healthy male participants (18-35 years) will be exposed to the TSST-Home and a placebo version (control condition) in a randomized order. Participants will be asked about their subjective stress levels, and saliva samples (cortisol, alpha-amylase) will be collected at multiple times across the experiment. Furthermore, heart rate and electrodermal activity will be assessed. The detailed study protocol as well as preliminary data of the initial participants will be presented at the conference.