A Newcastle-based citizen science study will aim to determine which stress management techniques work, given the lack of evidence on successful methods.
Researchers at the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the University of Newcastle will examine what "internal and external resources" people use to manage stress.
Public health researcher Dr Madeleine Hinwood said "stress causes and contributes to a whole range of health issues, but we don't yet know how best to prevent and manage stress".
"We're hoping to find out what actually works for people, by asking them regularly to tell us what they're doing and how they're feeling," Dr Hinwood said.
The FOCUS-R [Focus on Understanding Stress, Resilience and the Capacity to Adapt] study aims to recruit 1000 people nationwide.
The three-year study will ask participants to fill out a fortnightly survey, asking them about their experiences of stress in that period and what they did to manage it.
Dr Hinwood said the study would "allow us to identify effective stress management strategies", while seeking to pinpoint "barriers to achieving adaptability or resilience".
She said people were often encouraged to "be more resilient".
"They think the answer to managing stress is an internal quality that people either have or don't have.
"But I think it's highly dependent on their access to resources. That could be finances or how close they are to a nice park."
Along with determining which stress management techniques work best for particular types of people, the study will pinpoint those at "the highest risk of cumulative stress".
The research aims to match people with the most effective stress management methods.
Dr Hinwood said some stress management methods were "proven in small studies", but some highly promoted techniques weren't necessarily effective.
"There was this huge well funded trial in the UK with about 8000 high school students. They tested mindfulness. It was well run and well funded and there was no impact on mental health symptoms in adolescents," she said.
"Mindfulness is one of those things often touted for stress, but I don't think the evidence is strong. We're trying to gather real-world evidence."
She said stress had "finally been included in treatment guidelines for things like cardiovascular disease".
Doctors were recommended to check the "stress levels" of affected people, but they "don't know what to tell them yet to manage it".
"Some say do yoga and exercise, but I don't think that will work for everyone. There's no one thing that will work for everyone."
She said stress affects everyone and some "go on to develop anxiety and depression as a result of long-term exposure to stress".
The survey will help build "a data-backed profile" for developing more effective stress interventions.
"We want more detailed information about all the nitty-gritty of what helps people manage stress, particularly people experiencing the same or similar stressors."
Study participants will receive information on the best stress management techniques for them as the study progresses.
To participate, visit focusr.com.au.
