There is little evidence to suggest that the stress management interve
ntions (SMIs) used in organizations are necessarily effective nor is i
t clear why, in principle, they should be. Why then do organizations i
ntroduce SMIs? A wide variety of reasons is apparent, many focusing on
reducing the presumed costs of stress and the attractiveness of what
appears to be a panacea-like intervention. The central aim of this stu
dy is to make the case for and outline an evidence-based approach to S
MIs in which data gathered from initial assessments are used to make d
ecisions about interventions, Valid assessment requires a relatively s
ophisticated and comprehensive approach to measurement; designs which
permit causal relationships between the phenomena of interest to be es
tablished; and a healthy scepticism toward the claims that are made by
organizations and individuals about stress. It is argued that an evid
ence-based approach will lead to advances in theory development and in
tervention practices. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.