Introduccion: el estres se define como el conjunto de procesos y respuestas ante situaciones que requieren adaptacion mayor a lo habitual. En el estres de tipo psicologico, el individuo cree no tener control sobre las exigencias del entorno. Se ha sugerido que la transicion a la menopausia puede ser fuente de estres psicologico. Objetivo: identificar las escalas disponibles y validadas que permitan valorar la percepcion del estres psicologico en mujeres climatericas. Metodologia: se realizo busqueda de articulos y publicaciones en las bases de datos: Pubmed, Science-Direct, Scielo, Ebscohos y Biblioteca Virtual en Salud, que presenten escalas psicometricas para detectar estres psicologico. Se utilizaron las palabras claves presentes en el DeCS: estres psicologico, cuestionarios, psicometria, estudios de validacion y menopausia. Asi como las del MeSH: stress psychological, questionnaires, psychometrics, validation studies y menopause. Resultados: se identificaron 1480 titulos, se leyeron todos los resumenes y se escogieron 320 que guardaban relacion con estres psicologico. Una segunda revision permitio determinar que 76 eran pertinentes con el objetivo de la revision, de los cuales 51 se obtuvieron como articulos completos. Conclusion: la escala de estres percibido (PSS) en sus tres versiones, es una de las herramientas mas utilizadas y eficaces para medir estres psicologico, presenta satisfactoria consistencia interna en estudios realizados en diferentes grupos poblacionales. Igual sucede con escalas de depresion, ansiedad y estres (DASS) en sus dos versiones. Las escalas DASS y PSS han sido utilizados en la menopausia, son herramientas utiles para evaluar estres psicologico en mujeres en la etapa vital de climaterio. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2013;4(2):318-326 PALABRAS CLAVE Estres psicologico; Cuestionarios; Psicometria; Estudios de validacion; Menopausia. SUMMARY Introduction: stress is defined as the set of processes and answers before situations that require adjustment bigger than the habitual thing. In the psychological stress, the individual does not believe to have control about the requests of the environment. It has been suggested that the transition to the menopause could be source of psychological stress for some women. Objective: to identify the available and validated scales that allow assessing the perception of psychological stress in climacteric women. Methods: search of articles and publications in databases Pubmed, Science-Direct, Scielo, Ebscohos and Virtual Health Library was carried out; the articles had to present psychometric scales to detect psychological stress. The key words used were found in the DeCS: Psychological stress, questionnaires, psychometry, studies of validation and menopause. Just like words found in the MeSH: stress psychological, questionnaires, psychometrics, validation studies and menopause. Results: 1480 titles were identified, all the abstracts were read and 320 articles about psychological stress were chosen. A second review allowed determining that 76 were relevant with the objective of the review, 51 of them were obtained as complete articles. Conclusion: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), in their three versions, is one of the most efficient and used tools to measure psychological stress, it has satisfactory internal consistency in studies carried out in different population groups. Equal it happens with DASS in their two versions. The DASS and PSS scales have been used in the menopause; they are useful tools to assess psychological stress in women in the climacteric. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2013;4(2):318-326 KEYWORDS Stress psychological; Questionnaires; Psychometrics; Validation studies; Menopause