stress management experience essay

Essay on Stress Management

500 words essay on stress management.

Stress is a very complex phenomenon that we can define in several ways. However, if you put them together, it is basically the wear and tear of daily life. Stress management refers to a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies for controlling a person’s stress level, especially chronic stress . If there is effective stress management, we can help one another break the hold of stress on our lives. The essay on stress management will throw light on the very same thing.

Identifying the Source of Stress

The first step of stress management is identifying the source of stress in your life. It is not as easy as that but it is essential. The true source of stress may not always be evident as we tend to overlook our own stress-inducing thoughts and feelings.

For instance, you might constantly worry about meeting your deadline. But, in reality, maybe your procrastination is what leads to this stress than the actual deadline. In order to identify the source of stress, we must look closely within ourselves.

If you explain away stress as temporary, then it may be a problem. Like if you yourself don’t take a breather from time to time, what is the point? On the other hand, is stress an integral part of your work and you acknowledging it like that?

If you make it a part of your personality, like you label things as crazy or nervous energy, you need to look further. Most importantly, do you blame the stress on people around you or the events surrounding you?

It is essential to take responsibility for the role one plays in creating or maintaining stress. Your stress will remain outside your control if you do not do it.

Strategies for Stress Management

It is obvious that we cannot avoid all kinds of stress but there are many stressors in your life which you can definitely eliminate. It is important to learn how to say no and stick to them.  Try to avoid people who stress you out.

Further, if you cannot avoid a stressful situation, try altering it. Express your feelings don’t bottle them up and manage your time better. Moreover, you can also adapt to the stressor if you can’t change it.

Reframe problems and look at the big picture. Similarly, adjust your standards and focus on the positive side. Never try to control the uncontrollable. Most importantly, make time for having fun and relaxing.

Spend some time with nature, go for a walk or call a friend, whatever pleases you.  You can also try working out, listening to music and more. As long as it makes you happy, never give up.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Stress Management

All in all, we can control our stress levels with relaxation techniques that evoke the relaxation response of our body. It is the state of restfulness that is the opposite of the stress response. Thus, when you practice these techniques regularly, you can build your resilience and heal yourself.

FAQ of Essay on Stress Management

Question 1: What is the importance of stress management?

Answer 1: Stress management is very efficient as it helps in breaking the hold which stress has on our lives. Moreover, you can also become happy, healthy and more productive because of it. The ultimate goal should be to live a balanced life and have the resilience to hold up under pressure.

Question 2: Give some stress management techniques.

Answer 2: There are many stress management techniques through which one can reduce stress in their lives. One can change their situation or their reaction to it. We can try by altering the situation. If not, we can change our attitudes towards it. Remember, accept things that you cannot change.

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An Overview of Stress Management

Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Carly Snyder, MD is a reproductive and perinatal psychiatrist who combines traditional psychiatry with integrative medicine-based treatments.

Stress Management

Stress management is the range of techniques, strategies, and therapies designed to help people control their stress. This can include lowering acute stress, but it is often aimed at lowering chronic stress to improve health, happiness, and overall well-being. Stress management strategies may include:

• Deep breathing
• Eating a healthy diet
• Getting enough sleep
• Guided visualization
• Hobbies and leisure activities
• Mindfulness
• Positive thinking
• Progressive muscle relaxation
• Psychotherapy
• Social support

We all experience stress in our lives. Because many health problems are caused or influenced by stress, it's essential to understand how stress affects your body and learn effective stress management techniques to make stress work for you rather than against you.

What Is Stress?

Stress is your body’s response to changes in your life. Because life involves constant change—ranging from everyday, routine changes like commuting from home to work to adapting to major life changes like marriage, divorce, or death of a loved one—there is no avoiding stress.  

Your goal shouldn't be to eliminate all stress but to eliminate unnecessary stress and effectively manage the rest. There are some common causes of stress that many people experience, but each person is different.

Stress can come from many sources, which are known as " stressors ." Because our experience of what is considered "stressful" is created by our unique perceptions of what we encounter in life (based on our own mix of personality traits, available resources, and habitual thought patterns), a situation may be perceived as "stressful" by one person and merely "challenging" by someone else.

Simply put, one person's stress trigger may not register as stressful to someone else. That said, certain situations tend to cause more stress in most people and can increase the risk of burnout .

For example, when we find ourselves in situations where there are high demands on us but we little control and few choices, we are likely to experience stress. We might also feel stress when we don't feel equipped; where we may be harshly judged by others; and where consequences for failure are steep or unpredictable.

Many people are stressed by their jobs , relationships , financial issues , and health problems, as well as more mundane things like clutter or busy schedules . Learning skills to cope with these stressors can help reduce your experience of stress.  

Press Play for Advice On Dealing With Money Issues

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares what to do when financial stress is impacting your mental health. Click below to listen now.

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Just as stress is perceived differently by each of us, stress affects us all in ways that are unique to us. One person may experience headaches, while another may find stomach upset is a common reaction, and a third may experience any of a number of other symptoms.

While we all react to stress in our own ways, there is a long list of commonly experienced effects of stress that range from mild to life-threatening. Stress can affect immunity, which can impact virtually all areas of health. Stress can affect mood in many ways as well. Creating a stress management plan is often one part of a plan for overall wellness.

If you find yourself experiencing physical symptoms you think may be related to stress, talk to your doctor to be sure you are doing what you can to safeguard your health. Symptoms that may be exacerbated by stress are not "all in your head" and need to be taken seriously.

Stress can be effectively managed in many different ways. The best stress management plans usually include a mix of stress relievers that address stress physically and psychologically and help to develop resilience and coping skills.

7 Highly Effective Stress Relievers

Use quick stress relievers.

Some stress relief techniques can work in just a few minutes to calm the body's stress response. These techniques offer a "quick fix" that helps you feel calmer at the moment, and this can help in several ways.

When your stress response is not triggered, you may approach problems more thoughtfully and proactively. You may be less likely to lash out at others out of frustration, which can keep your relationships healthier. Nipping your stress response in the bud can also keep you from experiencing chronic stress.

Quick stress relievers like breathing exercises, for example, may not build your resilience to future stress or minimize the stressors that you face. But they can help calm the body's physiology once the stress response is triggered.  

Develop Stress-Relieving Habits

Some techniques are less convenient to use when you are in the middle of a stressful situation. But if you practice them regularly, they can help you manage stress in general by being less reactive to it and more able to reverse your stress response quickly and easily.

Long-term healthy habits, like exercise or regular meditation , can help to promote resilience toward stressors if you make them a regular part of your life.   Communication skills and other lifestyle skills can be helpful in managing stressors and changing how we feel from "overwhelmed" to "challenged" or even "stimulated."

Eliminate Stressors When You Can

You may not be able to completely eliminate stress from your life or even the biggest stressors, but there are areas where you can minimize it and get it to a manageable level.

Any stress that you can cut out can minimize your overall stress load. For example, ending even one toxic relationship can help you more effectively deal with other stress you experience because you may feel less overwhelmed.  

Discovering a wide variety of stress management techniques, and then choosing a mix that fits your needs, can be a key strategy for effective stress relief.

Stress FAQs

There are a number of common questions that you might ask about stress and stress management.

Is All Stress Harmful to Health?

There are several different types of stress , and not all are harmful. Eustress , for example, is a positive form of stress. But chronic stress has been linked to many serious health issues and is the type of negative stress most often mentioned in the news.   While we want to manage or eliminate negative stress, we also want to keep positive forms of stress in our lives to help us remain vital and alive.

However, if we experience too much stress in our lives, even "good" stress can contribute to excessive stress levels, which can lead to feeling overwhelmed or having your stress response triggered for too long. This is why it is still important to learn to relax your body and mind periodically and cut down on unnecessary stress whenever possible.

How Can I Tell When I’m Too Stressed?

Stress affects us all in different ways, not all of which are negative. In fact, the stress of an exciting life can actually serve as a good motivator and keep things interesting. When stress levels get too intense, however, there are some stress symptoms that many people experience.

For example, headaches, irritability, and "fuzzy thinking" can all be symptoms that you’re under too much stress.   While not everybody who’s under stress will experience these specific symptoms, many will.

If you find that you don't realize how stressed you are until you are overwhelmed, it's important to learn to notice your body's subtle cues and your own behavior, almost like an outside observer might. To notice how your body is reacting to stress, you can try this body scan meditation (it helps relax at the same time).

What Can I Do When I Feel Overwhelmed?

We all feel overwhelmed from time to time; that’s normal. While it’s virtually impossible to eliminate times when events conspire and the body’s stress response is triggered, there are ways that you can quickly reverse your body’s reaction to stress, buffering the damage to your health and keeping your thinking clear, so you can more effectively deal with what’s going on in the moment.

Is There a Way to Be Less Affected by Stress?

By practicing regular stress management techniques, you can eliminate some of the stress you feel and make yourself more resilient in the face of stress in the future. There are several things you can try, ranging from a morning walk to an evening journaling practice to just making more time for friends. The trick is to find something that fits with your lifestyle and personality, so it’s easier to stick with.

National Institute of Mental Health. 5 Things You Should Know About Stress .

Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, et al. The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults .  Front Psychol . 2017;8:874. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine. Mind and Body Approaches for Stress: What the Science Says . 2020.

Bota PG, Miropolskiy E, Nguyen V. Stop caretaking the borderline or narcissist: How to end the drama and get on with life .  Ment Illn . 2017;9(1):6985. doi:10.4081/mi.2017.6985

Lehrer PM, Woolfolk RL, Sime WE. Principles and Practice of Stress Management . 3rd edition. New York: The Guilford Press; 2007.

By Elizabeth Scott, PhD Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Relaxation Techniques for Stress Relief

Quick stress relief.

• How to Stop Worrying and End Anxious Thoughts

Stress Relief Guide

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What is stress management?

• Identify the causes
• Replace unhealthy coping strategies
• Practice the 4 As

Avoid unnecessary stress

Alter the situation, adapt to the stressor.

• Accept the things you can't change

Move more during your day

• Time management
• Reach out and connect

Make time for fun and relaxation

Maintain balance with a healthy lifestyle.

• Reducing stress in the moment

Stress Management Techniques & Strategies to Deal with Stress

While it may seem like there’s nothing you can do about stress in your life, there are healthy steps you can take to destress and regain control.

It may seem like there’s nothing you can do about stress—no way to avoid it and no way to de-stress completely when it hits. The bills won’t stop coming, there will never be more hours in the day, and your work and family responsibilities will always be demanding. But the truth is, you have a lot more control over stress than you may think. In fact, the simple realization that you’re in control of your life is the foundation of stress management.

Managing stress is all about taking charge: of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, environment, and the way you deal with problems. The ultimate goal is a balanced life, with time for work, relationships, relaxation, and fun—plus the ability to hold up under pressure and meet challenges head on.

Stress management involves using various techniques and coping strategies to improve the way you react to stressful things in your life and build resilience . But it’s not one-size-fits-all. That’s why it’s important to experiment and find out what works best for you. Whether you’re looking to reduce your overall stress levels, avoid unnecessary stressors in your life, or deal with stress in the moment, the following stress management techniques and strategies can help.

Why does stress management matter?

If you’re living with high levels of stress, you’re putting your entire well-being at risk. Stress wreaks havoc on your emotional equilibrium, as well as your overall physical and mental health. It narrows your ability to think clearly, function effectively, and enjoy life.

Identify the causes of stress in your life

Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in your life. This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. While it’s easy to identify major stressors such as changing jobs, moving, or going through a divorce, pinpointing the sources of chronic stress can be more complicated.

It’s all too easy to overlook how your own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors contribute to your everyday stress levels. Sure, you may know that you’re constantly worried about work deadlines, but maybe it’s your procrastination, rather than the actual job demands, that is causing the stress.

To identify what’s really stressing you out, look closely at your habits, attitude, and excuses:

• Do you explain away stress as temporary (“I just have a million things going on right now”) even though you can’t remember the last time you took a breather?
• Do you define stress as an integral part of your work or home life (“Things are always crazy around here”) or as a part of your personality (“I have a lot of nervous energy, that’s all”)?
• Do you blame your stress on other people or outside events, or view it as entirely normal and unexceptional?

Until you accept responsibility for the role you play in creating or maintaining it, your stress level will remain outside your control.

Keep a stress journal

A stress journal can help you identify the regular stressors in your life and the way you deal with them. Each time you feel stressed, make a note of it in your journal or use a stress tracker on your phone. As you keep a daily log, you will begin to see patterns and common themes. Write down:

• What caused your stress (make a guess if you’re unsure).
• How you felt, both physically and emotionally.
• How you acted in response.
• What you did to make yourself feel better.

Replace unhealthy coping strategies with healthy ones

Think about the ways you currently manage and cope with stress in your life. Your stress journal can help you identify them. Are your coping strategies healthy or unhealthy? Many of us cope with stress in ways that make us feel better temporarily—but compound the problem in the long run.

Unhealthy ways of dealing with stress

• Using alcohol or drugs to relax .
• Bingeing on junk or comfort food.
• Zoning out for hours on your phone or TV.
• Withdrawing from friends, family, and social activities.
• Sleeping too much.
• Filling up every minute of the day to avoid facing problems.
• Taking out your stress on others
• Procrastinating.

If your methods of coping with stress aren’t contributing to your greater emotional and physical health, it’s time to find healthier ones. No single method works for everyone or in every situation, so experiment with different stress management techniques and strategies. Focus on what makes you feel calm and in control.

Practice the 4 As of stress management

There are many healthy ways to reduce stress or cope with its effects, but they all require change. You can either change the situation or change your reaction. When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four As: avoid , alter , accept , or adapt .

Not all stress can be avoided, and it’s not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed. But you may be surprised by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate.

Learn how to say “no.” Know your limits and stick to them. Whether in your personal or professional life, taking on more than you can handle is a surefire recipe for stress.

Avoid people who stress you out. If someone consistently causes stress in your life, limit the amount of time you spend with that person, or end the relationship.

Take control of your environment. If the evening news makes you anxious, turn off the TV. If traffic makes you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route. If going to the market is an unpleasant chore, do your grocery shopping online.

Avoid hot-button topics . If you get upset over religion or politics, cross them off your conversation list. If you repeatedly argue about the same subject with the same people, stop bringing it up or excuse yourself when it’s the topic of discussion.

Pare down your to-do list. Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If you’ve got too much on your plate, distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts.” Drop tasks that aren’t truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely.

If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Often, this involves changing the way you communicate and operate in your daily life.

Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is bothering you, communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way. If you don’t voice your feelings, resentment will build and the stress will increase.

Be willing to compromise. When you ask someone to change their behavior, be willing to do the same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you’ll have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground.

Be more assertive.  Don’t take a backseat in your own life. Deal with problems head on, doing your best to anticipate and prevent them. If you’ve got an exam to study for and your chatty roommate just got home, say up front that you only have five minutes to talk.

Find balance. All work and no play is a recipe for burnout. Try to find a balance between work and family life, social activities and solitary pursuits, daily responsibilities and downtime.

If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude.

Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favorite radio station, or enjoy some alone time.

Look at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere.

Adjust your standards. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting yourself up for failure by demanding perfection. Set reasonable standards for yourself and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough.”

Practice gratitude. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life , including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective.

Accept the things you can’t change

Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You can’t prevent or change stressors such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run, it’s easier than railing against a situation you can’t change.

Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control, particularly the behavior of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things you can control such as the way you choose to react to problems.

Look for the upside. When facing major challenges, try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth. If your own poor choices contributed to a stressful situation, reflect on them and learn from your mistakes.

Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself from negative energy by forgiving and moving on.

Share your feelings. Expressing what you’re going through can be very cathartic, even if there’s nothing you can do to alter the stressful situation. Talk to a trusted friend or make an appointment with a therapist.

Speak to a Licensed Therapist

BetterHelp is an online therapy service that matches you to licensed, accredited therapists who can help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and more. Take the assessment and get matched with a therapist in as little as 48 hours.

When you’re stressed, the last thing you probably feel like doing is getting up and exercising. But physical activity is a huge stress reliever—and you don’t have to be an athlete or spend hours in a gym to experience the benefits. Exercise releases endorphins that make you feel good, and it can also serve as a valuable distraction from your daily worries.

While you’ll get the most benefit from regularly exercising for 30 minutes or more, it’s okay to build up your fitness level gradually. Even very small activities can add up over the course of a day. The first step is to get yourself up and moving. Here are some easy ways to incorporate exercise into your daily schedule:

• Put on some music and dance around.
• Take your dog for a walk .
• Walk or cycle to the grocery store.
• Use the stairs at home or work rather than an elevator.
• Park your car in the farthest spot in the lot and walk the rest of the way.
• Pair up with an exercise partner and encourage each other as you work out.
• Play ping-pong or an activity-based video game with your kids.

Using mindful rhythmic exercise to manage stress

While just about any form of physical activity can help burn away tension and stress, rhythmic activities are especially effective. Good choices include walking, running, swimming, dancing, cycling, tai chi, and aerobics. But whatever you choose, make sure it’s something you enjoy so you’re more likely to stick with it.

While you’re exercising, make a conscious effort to pay attention to your body and the physical (and sometimes emotional) sensations you experience as you’re moving. Focus on coordinating your breathing with your movements, for example, or notice how the air or sunlight feels on your skin. Adding this mindfulness element will help you break out of the cycle of negative thoughts that often accompanies overwhelming stress.

Learn to manage your time better

Poor time management can cause a lot of stress. When you’re stretched too thin and running behind, it’s hard to stay calm and focused. Plus, you’ll be tempted to avoid or cut back on all the healthy things you should be doing to keep stress in check, like socializing and getting enough sleep. The good news: there are things you can do to achieve a healthier work-life balance.

Don’t over-commit yourself. Avoid scheduling things back-to-back or trying to fit too much into one day. All too often, we underestimate how long things will take.

Prioritize tasks. Make a list of tasks you have to do, and tackle them in order of importance. Do the high-priority items first. If you have something particularly unpleasant or stressful to do, get it over with early. The rest of your day will be more pleasant as a result.

Break projects into small steps. If a large project seems overwhelming, make a step-by-step plan. Focus on one manageable step at a time, rather than taking on everything at once.

Delegate responsibility. You don’t have to do it all yourself, whether at home, school, or on the job. If other people can take care of the task, why not let them? Let go of the desire to control or oversee every little step. You’ll be letting go of unnecessary stress in the process.

Reach out and connect to people who make you feel good

There is nothing more calming than spending quality time with another human being who makes you feel safe and understood. In fact, face-to-face interaction triggers a cascade of hormones that counteracts the body’s defensive “fight-or-flight” response. It’s nature’s natural stress reliever (as an added bonus, it also helps stave off depression and anxiety). So make it a point to connect regularly—and in person—with family and friends.

[Read: Social Support for Stress Relief]

Keep in mind that the people you talk to don’t have to be able to fix your stress. They simply need to be good listeners. And try not to let worries about looking weak or being a burden keep you from opening up. The people who care about you will be flattered by your trust. It will only strengthen your bond.

Of course, you may not always have someone close by to lean on when you feel overwhelmed by stress, but by building and maintaining a network of close friends you can improve your resiliency to life’s stressors.

Tips for building relationships

• Reach out to a colleague at work.
• Help someone else by volunteering .
• Have lunch or coffee with a friend.
• Ask a loved one to check in with you regularly.
• Call or email an old friend.
• Go for a walk with a workout buddy.
• Schedule a weekly dinner date.
• Meet new people by taking a class or joining a club.
• Confide in a clergy member, teacher, or sports coach.
• Join a support group—either in-person or via on online therapy platform .

Beyond a take-charge approach and a positive attitude, you can reduce stress in your life by carving out “me” time. Don’t get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that you forget to take care of your own needs. Nurturing yourself is a necessity, not a luxury. If you regularly make time for fun and relaxation, you’ll be in a better place to handle life’s stressors.

Set aside leisure time. Include rest and relaxation in your daily schedule. Don’t allow other obligations to encroach. This is your time to take a break from all responsibilities and recharge your batteries.

Do something you enjoy every day. Make time for leisure activities that bring you joy, whether it be stargazing, playing the piano, or working on your bike.

Keep your sense of humor. This includes the ability to laugh at yourself. The act of laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways.

Take up a relaxation practice. Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the body’s relaxation response , a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the fight or flight or mobilization stress response. As you learn and practice these techniques, your stress levels will decrease and your mind and body will become calm and centered.

In addition to regular exercise, there are other healthy lifestyle choices that can increase your resistance to stress.

Eat a healthy diet . Well-nourished bodies are better prepared to cope with stress, so be mindful of what you eat. Start your day right with breakfast, and keep your energy up and your mind clear with balanced, nutritious meals throughout the day.

Reduce caffeine and sugar. The temporary “highs” caffeine and sugar provide often end with a crash in mood and energy. By reducing the amount of coffee, soft drinks, chocolate, and sugar snacks in your diet , you’ll feel more relaxed and you’ll sleep better.

Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Self-medicating with alcohol or drugs may provide an easy escape from stress, but the relief is only temporary. Don’t avoid or mask the issue at hand; deal with problems head on and with a clear mind.

Get enough sleep. Adequate sleep fuels your mind, as well as your body. Feeling tired will increase your stress because it may cause you to think irrationally.

Tips for reducing stress in the moment

When you’re frazzled by your morning commute, stuck in a stressful meeting at work, or fried from another argument with your spouse, you need a way to manage your stress levels right now . That’s where quick stress relief comes in.

The fastest way to reduce stress is by taking a deep breath and using your senses—what you see, hear, taste, and touch—or through a soothing movement. By viewing a favorite photo, smelling a specific scent, listening to a favorite piece of music, tasting a piece of gum, or hugging a pet, for example, you can quickly relax and focus yourself.

[Read: Quick Stress Relief]

Of course, not everyone responds to each sensory experience in the same way. The key to quick stress relief is to experiment and discover the unique sensory experiences that work best for you.

More Information

• Special Health Report - Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School on Stress. (Harvard Health)
• Tolerating Distress - Workbook and information sheets to help you manage feelings of distress. (Centre for Clinical Interventions)
• How To Relax (Video) - Video to help you ease stress. (Mind)
• Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders. (2013). In Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . American Psychiatric Association. Link
• Can, Yekta Said, Heather Iles-Smith, Niaz Chalabianloo, Deniz Ekiz, Javier Fernández-Álvarez, Claudia Repetto, Giuseppe Riva, and Cem Ersoy. “How to Relax in Stressful Situations: A Smart Stress Reduction System.” Healthcare 8, no. 2 (April 16, 2020): 100. Link
• Norelli, Samantha K., Ashley Long, and Jeffrey M. Krepps. “Relaxation Techniques.” In StatPearls . Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing, 2021. Link
• Toussaint, Loren, Quang Anh Nguyen, Claire Roettger, Kiara Dixon, Martin Offenbächer, Niko Kohls, Jameson Hirsch, and Fuschia Sirois. “Effectiveness of Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Deep Breathing, and Guided Imagery in Promoting Psychological and Physiological States of Relaxation.” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2021 (July 3, 2021): e5924040. Link
• Unger, Cynthia A, David Busse, and Ilona S Yim. “The Effect of Guided Relaxation on Cortisol and Affect: Stress Reactivity as a Moderator.” Journal of Health Psychology 22, no. 1 (January 1, 2017): 29–38. Link
• Singh, Karuna. “Nutrient and Stress Management.” Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences 6, no. 4 (2016). Link
• Katsarou, Alexia L., Marios M. Vryonis, Athanassios D. Protogerou, Evangelos C. Alexopoulos, Apostolos Achimastos, Dimitrios Papadogiannis, George P. Chrousos, and Christina Darviri. “Stress Management and Dietary Counseling in Hypertensive Patients: A Pilot Study of Additional Effect.” Primary Health Care Research & Development 15, no. 1 (January 2014): 38–45. Link
• Errisuriz, Vanessa L., Keryn E. Pasch, and Cheryl L. Perry. “Perceived Stress and Dietary Choices: The Moderating Role of Stress Management.” Eating Behaviors 22 (August 1, 2016): 211–16. Link
• Choi, Dong-Woo, Sung-Youn Chun, Sang Ah Lee, Kyu-Tae Han, and Eun-Cheol Park. “Association between Sleep Duration and Perceived Stress: Salaried Worker in Circumstances of High Workload.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 4 (April 2018): 796. Link
• Blaxton, Jessica M., Cindy S. Bergeman, Brenda R. Whitehead, Marcia E. Braun, and Jessic D. Payne. “Relationships Among Nightly Sleep Quality, Daily Stress, and Daily Affect.” The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 72, no. 3 (May 1, 2017): 363–72. Link
• Saleh, Dalia, Nathalie Camart, Fouad Sbeira, and Lucia Romo. “Can We Learn to Manage Stress? A Randomized Controlled Trial Carried out on University Students.” PLOS ONE 13, no. 9 (September 5, 2018): e0200997. Link
• Loprinzi, Paul D., and Emily Frith. “Protective and Therapeutic Effects of Exercise on Stress-Induced Memory Impairment.” The Journal of Physiological Sciences: JPS 69, no. 1 (January 2019): 1–12. Link
• Salmon, P. “Effects of Physical Exercise on Anxiety, Depression, and Sensitivity to Stress: A Unifying Theory.” Clinical Psychology Review 21, no. 1 (February 2001): 33–61. Link

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Stress Management - Essay Examples And Topic Ideas For Free

An essay on stress management can explore strategies and techniques for coping with stress in modern life. It can discuss the physical and psychological effects of stress, mindfulness practices, time management, and the importance of work-life balance in reducing stress and promoting overall well-being. We’ve gathered an extensive assortment of free essay samples on the topic of Stress Management you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Self Care in Stress Management

Humans or individuals as living creatures created by God with all their abilities and advantages compared to other living things, for example having a mind that can be used to think we need to be grateful. Just like staying and caring for yourself (self care) by utilizing the abilities we have. Every individual with the right conditions and conditions in accordance with the basic conditions that have an instinct also the body's ability to be able to care for, protect, […]

Importance of Stress Management at Workplace

What is stress? Stress is the body’s way of responding to any kind of demand.it could be negative or positive. 1. Demands This includes the demands of the workload and the work environment. The times when employees feel work stress could be: • harsh deadlines and expectations • technology overload • unmanageable workloads • long work hours 2. Lack of Control Lack of control at workplace means how much authority employees have about the way they do their work. Lack […]

Causes of Teenage Stress: Understanding the Effects

Causes of Teenage Stress According to dictionary.com, stress is defined as “importance attached to a thing.” As teenagers, we are constantly bombarded with homework, college, and the future, and it can become very stressful. Stress has a lot of causes and effects on teenagers, and sometimes it can get a little overwhelming. As a teenager myself, I have found that sometimes when I get too stressed, I get flustered. Like other teenagers, I would like to know what causes so […]

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An Observation of Stress and Stress Management in a Modern World

Everyone experiences stress one way or another whether it be acute or major. According to Psychology by Sandra E. Hockenbury, stress is a negative emotional response to events that are perceived to be exceeding a person’s resources or natural abilities (Hockenbury 531). According to the cognitive appraisal model founded by Richard Lazarus, people only experience stress if the stressor or what causes the stress is perceived to uncontrollable (Hockenbury 531). Once a person deems the stressor to be uncontrollable, they […]

Stress Management Case Study Report

The stress management case study involves college student, Katya who has an upcoming chemistry exam, she normally tries her best to study as much as possible because she experiences anxiety before taking tests. Her lack of confidence causes Katya to believe that no matter how hard she studies it will not make a difference in her tests. Katya knows she has to do well in her upcoming exam or she may lose her scholarship. While studying for her chemistry exam […]

Stress Among Police Officers: Understanding and Addressing

Causes of Stress for Police Officers High expectations are placed on police officers to put everything and everyone aside when duty calls, and it can be tiring and stressful at times to meet this demand due to family and other personal demands. In the eye of the community, the police are expected to go above and beyond the call of duty, and this is demanding as they are only human. It can often be very stressful for an officer when […]

Stress Management: how Stress Can Cause Mental Illness and how to Treat it

Every day, people experience stress or a stressful moment, at least at one point in the day or multiple times. Stress is defined as “a general, not a specific, term and refers to any demand (physical or psychological) that is outside the norm and that signals a disparity between what is optimal and what actually exists” (Herbert, 1997, 530). From this definition, stress is an event that is mentally and physically draining and a very common cause for people to […]

Coping with Stress: Exploring Strategies for Effective Stress Management

Personal Stress Assessment People respond to stress in three different ways: emotionally, physiologically, and behaviorally (Weiten, Dunn, & Hammer, 2018). I completed the stress assessment (R. Roberts, personal communication, January 31, 2019) to determine how I handle stressful situations. Lower numbers, between 7 and 70, indicated a weaker response to stress. The assessment (R. Roberts, personal communication, January 31, 2019) indicated that I respond to stressful situations mentally more than physically or emotionally; I scored a 37 for the mental […]

Causes of Stress Among College Students: Exploring the Daily Life

Stress is the natural response of the human body that happens when challenges come by. As college students, they are bombarded with loads of stress on a daily basis. Starting college can hold a whole new experience, and it can be scary without the safety net of family, friends, or guardians to come home to days away from a support structure that loves you no matter what. Stress and Its Effects on College Students Students are exposed to stress by […]

Trauma, Violence and Stress Management in America

Attachment Therapy Intervention Child-parent psychotherapy is an intervention technique used in young children with attachment disorders. This approach looks at the parental role in a child's emotional attachments and how the child-parent relationship affects other relationships in a child's life. According to Hagan, Browne, Sulik, Ippen, Bush, & Lieberman (2017), the main goal of child-parent psychotherapy is to address the quality of attachments between a young child and their primary caregiver, and to discover how those attachments affect the child's […]

When Stress Turns to Panic: the Stress Management Techniques

When Stress Turns to Panic For many people, stress is the trigger for an even bigger health problem: anxiety and panic attacks. If you are currently suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, along with stress, then it can feel like you're in the rabbit hole – as if there’s no real hope of a solution. The stress management techniques are highly effective for relieving and even eliminating stress. However, if you are experiencing intense episodes of anxiety and panic, you […]

Do not Let Negative Feelings Destroy our Lives

Currently, many people suffer from negative feelings which have bad effect on people’s mental health and, more seriously, destroy someone’s ability to live a normal life. Therefore, it is necessary for everyone to learn how to deal with those kinds of negative feelings so that we can prevent them from developing into depression or we can know how to help ourselves even if we have already suffered from depression. However, most people do not really realize how negative feelings harm […]

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Stress Management Essays

Stress is now a major problem in many countries around the world. What are some of the factors in modern society that cause this stress, and how can we reduce it? In present times, stress has become a very common problem that people are facing all over the world. This essay will examine its potential causes and possible ways of reducing it. The predominant factor for leading a stressful life is work pressure. As industries are growing rapidly, the competition among them is also increasing day by day, thus enforcing employees to work harder and harder to maintain their company's reputation and position in the competitive world. Consequently, in order to meet their task deadline, people always feel constant pressure upon them. For instance, it is evident that due to work pressure many IT professionals face problems related to mental health such as depression and anxiety. The other factor responsible for this tension is nuclear families. For working couples, managing both work and home at the same time is a challenging job especially when they are leaving away from their parents, and hence, they do not have anyone at home to depend upon for small assistance. There can be a number of ways to release this anxiety and pressure. Firstly, people need to learn to maintain work-life balance which is essential for leading a happy and fulfilling life. There are many stress management programs available these days that are very helpful in handling mental pressure. Secondly, physical activities are considered as a stress buster by many medical professionals. For example, yoga and power yoga have proven to be successful in improving both mental and physical health. Thus people can join some sports or physical activity on a regular basis to reduce their day to day life stress. In conclusion, work-related stress and fast-paced life are the main reasons for stress among people. However, people can manage it effectively by doing physical exercises and meditation as a daily practice.

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Stress in Modern Society

Hi can someone review my writing for this change in society essay and give it a band score if possible please? In some societies, stress is now regarded as a major problem, and it is thought that people suffer from more stress than they did in the past. However, others feel that the amount of stress people have today is exaggerated. They say that previous generations were under more pressure, but the idea of suffering from stress did not exist. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. It is undeniable that life has been upgraded remarkably for the last decades. People live an easier and more convenient life, yet are put under a lot of of pressure, which is now one of societies' biggest issues. However, some people argue that people today do not suffer from as much stress there was in the past when the concept of stress did not exist. I personally think that each generation deals with different kinds of pressure. To begin with, people in modern societies tend to have numerous concerns whilst pursuing a high living standard. Employees are forced to work longer hours which results in a large amount of stress. Modern problems in finance, business, education and relationships usually put people in distress as well. Moreover, pollution caused by technology development has brought about a lot of serious diseases adding up to the endless list of today's concerns. On the other hand, life of the previous generations was no less stressful. Without the help of technology, people in the past would have a lot of difficulties in doing everything on their own. Furthermore, as a result of war and ages of economic depression, poverty and diseases became the largest problems most people had to face. However, they were not likely to suffer from emotional instability from pressures. Common today's mental illness resulting from stress such as bipolar, eating disorder, social anxiety did not exist. In conclusion, I think that the pressure that each generation is under aredistinct and incomparable. Nevertheless, unlike us, our ancestors had learned to manage it quite well.

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Causes of and Solutions to Stress

by Fizza (Pakistan)

Stress is now a major problem in many countries around the world. What are some of the factors in modern society that cause this stress, and how can we reduce it? In the contemporary world, the issue of stress has been found to affect almost everyone at some point in their lives. This essay will look into the precedents of rising stress levels in society, and potential measures that can be taken to avoid or reduce it. The reasons of stress can either be physiological or psychological. Among the former, the use of screens is the leading factor. In the present information age, the lifestyle of people and the nature of their jobs have altered. One of the most notable changes is a very high tendency of screen use in the form of desktops, laptops and mobile phones among others. Spending long hours focusing on screen causes the muscles to stiff and boost the stress level. If we talk about the latter, people belonging to almost all age groups residing across the globe face tensions about various matters related to education and jobs due to heightened competition in these fields. Such worries coupled with uncertainly about future lead to increased stress levels. Although the problem of stress is definitely prevalent in current context, there are a number of stress management techniques that can be learned to tackle this issue. First, one must take short breaks for simple exercises while doing office work or while studying to relax the muscles and avoid stress. Second, consultation with a sincere friend or a psychiatrist for catharsis can turn out to be helpful when someone is facing high stress level. In addition to these, one must also try to stay away from certain situations that cause stress for example toxic relationships, dishonest friendships and political environments. In conclusion, due to changes in overall society, people are more likely to experience stress. Although it is a pressing issue, it can be solved easily through adopting some crucial yet uncomplicated measures.

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420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

To write a stress essay, you’ll need a good idea to start your research and writing process. We have some for you to check.

📑 Aspects to Cover in a Stress Essay

🏆 best stress topic ideas & essay examples, 🥇 most interesting stress topics to write about, 🎓 simple & easy stress essay topics, 📌 research titles about stress, 👍 good stress essay topics, 💡 interesting topics to write about stress, ❓ stress research questions.

As a student, you’re likely familiar with the subject already. Yet, you may struggle to choose between composing about stress management or mental health issues. That’s why our team has prepared this list of stress essay topics. Look through them to consider every possible title and pick the most suitable one.

Stress has become one of the most common problem individuals experience today. It is possible to say that everyone has felt stressed out at least once in their life.

Stress essays are challenging and engaging assignments that can help students to learn more about the issue. We are here to help you write an outstanding essay on stress.

Let us start by choosing the subject for your paper. We would suggest choosing one of the following stress essay topics and titles:

• Stress management techniques and their significance

The effects of stress on the body

• How bullying increases stress among students
• Causes and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (you can choose another mental health disorder, too)
• Benefits of leisure activities to reduce the level of stress
• The link between nutrition and stress
• Consequences of workplace stress
• Common causes of stress among students

Note that you can select one of the other stress essay titles, too. You can search for them online. Remember to only use online examples as an inspiration for your paper and avoid copying the information you will find.

Once you have chosen one of the topics, you are ready to work on your outstanding essay. Here are the aspects you should cover in your paper on stress:

• Think about what you already know about the subject you had selected. Check out stress essay examples online if you are not sure that your topic is relevant. Research the information about the issue, using credible sources (Wikipedia is not one of them!).
• Select the sources that you cite in your paper. The general rule is that you should use peer-reviewed articles and scholarly books. Ask your professor about the sources in advance.
• A well-developed stress essay outline is important. Include an introductory paragraph, several body paragraphs (we would recommend writing at least three), and a conclusion.
• Think about the purpose of your paper. Do you want to help the reader to minimize stress? Should your essay provide statistical data? Do you want to address workplace stress or school-related stress? Consider these questions while working on the essay.

A thesis statement is a must. Generally, it should be present in the last sentence of your introduction. Here is how a thesis can look like:

Nutrition is directly linked to the level of stress in an individual. / Workplace stress can lead to depression among employees.

• Define stress. Provide a dictionary definition of stress or select one from the articles you have studied. Your reader should understand the concept of stress clearly. Remember that there are different types of stress based on its causes.
• Discuss the consequences of stress, referring to the sources you have selected. Address the physical and emotional outcomes of stress.
• Discuss the potential ways of dealing with stress. According to the purpose of your paper, address one or several methods in detail. What are the positive changes an individual can feel after these interventions? Reflect on this question, too.
• Remember to support your claims with evidence from the sources you have studied. Cite the literature properly using the citation style guide.
• Your concluding paragraph should restate the main arguments of the paper. Avoid adding new information or in-text citations in this section.

Please feel free to analyze our free samples and get the best ideas for your essay!

• Time Management and Its Effect in Reducing Stress among Students One of the causes of stress among high school students and college students is the difficulty in interacting with a completely new set of students and an even larger social group within the body of […]
• Effects of Stress on Human Health There are numerous theories and researches on stress and health, they all agree that stress has an adverse effect on human health; the statement goes “a stressed man is an unhealthy man”.
• How to Manage Stress at Work Essay Work stress is one of the ailments that are acknowledged worldwide to be affecting the healthiness of the organization and the health or workers.
• Stress Among College Students: Causes, Effects and Overcomes Due to stress, college students may experience such adverse outcomes as the decreased levels of cognitive functioning, the impaired ability to study, and, consequently, lower academic performance.
• Stress Management While undertaking the survey on management of stress in organizations, I came to realize that the sources of stress to employees are many and vary from one employee to another.
• Yoga for Stress Management For instance, Karma yoga, which is one of Yoga types, aids in controlling stress through the development of appropriate attitudes in relation to work environment coupled with enhancing the ability to respond positively to professional […]
• Factors and Consequences of a Plane Crash: Traumatic Stress The effects from air crash are determined by among other things, the cause of the crash, the altitude and its speed at the time of crash.
• How to Cope with Stress Essay The identification of the stressor also opens a window for an individual to explore other adaptation methods, which can be of help in the future such as avoidance.
• Stress: Definition and Different Types of Stress Many believe that individual or team performance is susceptible to the effects of stress as there is a requirement for teams to maintain acceptable performance.
• How to Beat Stress? Stress seems to follow us everywhere and every minute, so that it is not always possible for people to find the time and think of the ways to beat stress and live quietly with no […]
• Work Stress and Its Effects on Individuals Managers of leading companies have long realized that this phenomenon is dangerous to both employees and companies, and one of their priorities is to remove the causes of work stress and or at least minimize […]
• Teen Stress: How to Help Them Manage It? The physiologic changes of the body, the first steps are taken in search of the individuality, examinations, and tests in school or college, the pressure from the parent’s side, the issues in the relationships, diffidence, […]
• Frustration and Stress Managing The stress that is a result of waiting and anticipation is a kind of stress that can be controlled. Humor is one of the many forms that can be used to blow up stress.
• Working Conditions That Lead to Stress at Amazon For example, among the methods for evaluating the efficiency of warehouse employees is the indicator of the number of processed packages per hour.
• Comparison of Stress Level Among Traditional Learning and Online Learning College Students The distance learners have been perceived to be enjoying a suitable environment of learning as opposed to the traditional classroom learners who experience high levels of stress.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Case Conceptualization Samuel, an 8-year-old black male, lives in an adopted white family consisting of the father, incarcerated for domestic violence charges, the mother, the primary caretaker and the only home provider, and the older sibling.
• How Does Stress Affect the Body? Especially after the pandemic of COVID-19 has made the levels of stress in people worldwide skyrocket, the significance of studying the levels of stress on the human body has grown tremendously.
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorders: Psychological Assessment PTSD was adopted by experts in the third revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders to replace terms like “shell shock, nervous shock, and combat fatigue” that described the response to traumatic […]
• Pre-Stressed Concrete The aim of this paper is to discuss the historical developments of pre-stressed concrete, the basic concepts of pre-stressed concrete, and the manufacturing of the pre-stressed concrete.
• Emotions, Stress and Ways to Cope with Them This means that strong emotions will trigger complex brain patterns and physiological responses due to the nature of hormones the body releases.
• Exam Stress: Effective Management It is important for a child to get enough rest for the relaxation of the mind and body. In line with Hemmings, it is important for parents to analyze the mood of a child who […]
• Academic Stress and Its Impact on Teenagers Another possible solution is raising awareness about the harms of stress to human health to educate students and their parents on the risks associated with stress.
• Stress in College Students, Its Causes and Effects Recognizing the cause and effect of stress in college students is an important aspect in college management and leadership as it will lead to a better understanding and development of the appropriate methods for intervention.
• People Should Consider Owning a Pet Because Doing So Can Relieve Stress These are great techniques, but the issue of having a pet as a best friend is unique and one of the recently discovered best practices of relieving work-related strains or stress.
• Improving Stress Resistance in Agricultural Crops The biotechnology involved in producing such crops faces many difficulties and there are a lot of considerations of the methods used to improve the crop’s resistance that need to be assessed.
• Time and Stress Management for Better Productivity Procrastination is the forwarding of events that have to be done at a specific time to another time in the future.
• Stress and Burnout in the Workplace This paper investigates the causes of stress and burnout in the workplace and suggests ways of minimizing stress and burnout. This will also result in stress and burnout, ultimately affecting the performance of the workers.
• The Problem of Workplace Stress Stress at work can be defined as “the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of a job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker”. A variety of […]
• Understanding and Addressing Family Stress: Parental Responses and Impact on Children The spousal relationship, employment, a lack of structure in the household, and psychological suffering all contribute to stress. They are regarded as potent mediators, and therefore, offending elders indicates disrespecting the father and may lead […]
• Transactional Model of Stress and Coping in Intravenous Drug Users The purpose of this paper is to explain how the transactional model of stress and coping can be used to explain and assess the process of coping in a group of intravenous users at risk […]
• Stress and Burnout in Organizations Stress may refer to a state of psychological and physical discomfort of an individual, which is derivative of the interaction of external and biological factors. This paper discusses the organizations’ and workers’ challenges related to […]
• The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Perceived Stress The last hypothesis is that there is a significant gender difference in the measures of self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and perceived stress.
• Stress related to workplace conditions Physical factors are those related to the ability of the body to function correctly in the work environment. Unpredictability and uncertainty of work situations are recognized as the main causes of stress in the workplace.
• The Effect of Stress on the Immunity With an increase in the concentration of glucocorticoids, the thymus decreases in size and the formation of immune cells is disrupted.
• Stress and Its Effects on Health The effects of stress on the cardiovascular system are explained in a review by Kivimaki & Steptoe to determine the impact of stress on the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases.
• Burnout Stress in Nursing Related With Lazarus and Folkman’s Theory According to Lazarus and Folkman, stress is the relationship existing between a person and the environment that compels the individual beyond resources and consequently endangering life. The theory of stress and coping helps individuals to […]
• Stress Management in University Students The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate how stress management research techniques have changed in the PICOS framework and tendencies in stress levels and stress factors in the period of the last ten […]
• Stress: causes and effects This is due to the research methods used in the process of analyzing and finding solutions to the global psychological challenges and problems.
• Stress Management in Work Environment Leka, Griffiths and Cox are of the opinion that work related stress arises from the disparity between the demands of the job and the pressure on the employee on one hand and the mismatch between […]
• The Relationship between Stress Management and Criminal Recidivism Employment tends to increase the social capital of individuals, what is usually referred to as the networks of shared norms and values, which augments the access to the much-needed necessities.
• Stress Reduction Among College Students In conclusion, “Calm” is useful in mindfulness meditation to decrease stress and enhance self-compassion and mindfulness among students. However, there is constrained information regarding the palatability and effectiveness of delivering mindfulness meditation interventions through mobile […]
• ANOVA Analysis: The Influence of Physical Activity on Stress Levels The independent variable of this research is the degree of physical activity, while the independent variable is the level of stress.
• Stress Management in the Adulthood To effectively handle stress, an individual must be able to recognize the symptoms of stress and understand the possible cause which is easy as stress changes an individual’s happiness level, health, and behavior.
• Solutions for Students to Reduce Stress in University Life The six major solutions university students can apply in reducing stress include avoiding unnecessary stress, altering the situation, adapting to the stressor, accepting things that cannot be changed, making time for relaxation and fun and […]
• Stress Management in the Hospitality Industry In the event of such aspects the body tries to bring its system to a balance by building adequate energy as well as staying alert to face any possibility of the threat happening.
• Stresses of Being a Student Eustress is a form of stress which is normally thrilling and fun and a good example of this is when one is rushing to meet a deadline for an assignment submission.
• Social Impact of Stress in Childhood Stress in childhood can profoundly affect the cognitive and social development of a person. They can have a life-long impact on the behavior and identify of a person.
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a Health Issue in the Society The treatment is aimed at relieving the symptoms that the patient seems to be experiencing so that the individual can be able to deal with the traumatic experience.
• Defining The Stress Response Across Scientific Disciplines To capture the varying levels of stress among different patients, Holmes and Rahe use percentages to explain the different degrees of a person’s stress level.
• Acute Stress and Attachment Theory At the point of stress, the person will feel vulnerable or in danger and will need something to offer them security.
• Stress Among Criminal Justice Workers The criminal justice system is aware of the seriousness of the current problem and is trying to adapt to the emerging trend.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Use Disorder The hypothesis of self-medication is one of the mechanisms that can expound the comorbidity between post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety illness.
• “Stress: How It Affects Us”: Critical Analysis As the name suggests, the article is related to stress and how it affects our day-to-day workings as well as our health in general.
• A Healthy Way To Cope With Stress According to Seaward, stress is “the experience of a perceived threat to one’s mental, physical or spiritual well-being, resulting from a series of physiological responses and adaptations”.
• Positive Psychology and Academic Stress With the rising cases of academic stress among students in the United States, the federal government has introduced positive psychology programs in schools across the country.
• Stress, Its Causes and Effects Relationship Understanding the diverse nature of the causes of the stress is crucial to the effective elimination of its effects, as these two factors heavily depend on each other.
• Anger, Stress and Aggression in Violent Offenders The intentions of the aggressor and the nature of the aggression offer the description of that form of aggression. Thus, understanding the relationship between anger, stress and aggression is important to the practitioners involved in […]
• Definition of Fiscal Stress The state government and local authorities may use different services they provide to the public to measure the level of fiscal stress.
• Effect of Stress on Relations and Marriage Therefore, this paper had the aim of discussing the effects of stress on a marriage and relationships and how the stress can be reduced and controlled.
• Problem Solving: What Can We Do About Our Stress? Since we can decide on what to believe or think, we posses the aptitude on how we can respond to the exigent events and circumstances in our daily lives.
• Stress Reduction Programs in an Organization There are different approaches to reducing stress levels in an organization. To choose the appropriate program, it is necessary to assess the available options based on a range of criteria.
• Mindfulness Meditation to Reduce Nursing Stress Levels This project will discuss nurse stress and the implementation of mindfulness meditation sessions as a main intervention for its reduction. Nurse stress should no longer be ignored, and the effect of mindfulness meditation may be […]
• Relationship Between Stress and Greying of the Hair The main topic of this study was the study of the influence of a negative psychological state of a person on the increase in the number of gray hairs.
• Stress and Its Influence on Human Body Prolonged exposure to stress worsens the body’s resistance and the immune and vegetative systems of a person and disrupts the functioning of hormonal glands and metabolism.
• Aspects of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder They include direct or indirect exposure to stressors, intrusion symptoms, the persistent avoidance of trauma-related stressors, negative alterations in mood and the development of mental health comorbidities, aggression, and self-destructive behavior, the duration for not […]
• Family Health Assessment: Child Poverty, Toxic Stress Because of the nature of their work, and the fact that the two were working even during the pandemic, the father was at one point exposed to Covid-19. The model that will help the family […]
• Dogs: The Stress Coping Mechanisms When the arousal level increases, it helps the body prepare for action and deal with the cause of the stress. The hormone helps them to cope with the stress and to recover from it more […]
• Self-Reported PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress) Symptoms and Social Support At the same time, multiple authors prove that social support and connectedness with family members, relatives, friends, and other members of the community contribute to PTG and the minimization of the signs of PTSD in […]
• Coronary Heart Disease Caused by Stress It is essential to study the degree of influence of stress on the development of coronary heart disease since, in this way, it will be possible to prevent it more successfully.
• Self SWOT: Stress Resistance as the Main Strength However, the irrationality of my organization of time and schedule is a big threat that I will begin to lose control over my studies, which may affect my future career and its trajectory.
• Stress and Its Adverse Health Effects The article’s topic is Stress and Health: A Review of Psychobiological Processes. For instance, when stress increases or is prolonged, the dangers of mental health challenges and medical complications arise.
• Stress Management in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients The study also covered the epidemiological and pathophysiology of RA and looked at data linking psychological trauma to the emergence and aggravation of the clinical disease.
• The Effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques on Nurses’ Stress The objectives for each of the three criteria are clearly stated, with the author explaining the aims to the reader well throughout the content in the article’s title, abstract, and introduction.
• Pathophysiology of Stress, Processed Foods, and Risky Alcohol Consumption The body starts to see the fats, sugars, and salt in ultra-processed foods as rewards, which leads to increased cravings and overeating.
• Teachers Wellbeing: Becoming Aware of Work-Relate Stress Teachers who are aware of these stressors early in their careers may be able to minimize their risk of burnout and experience a sense of well-being.
• The Traumas from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Measuring the prevalence and incidence of PTSD requires excellent knowledge of epidemiology and biostatistics. The prevalence and incidence of PTSD have increased since 2000.
• Stress and Related Risks in Vulnerable Communities The case study family is between the ages of five and thirty-five years and consists of a father, a mother, and two male children. My rationale behind the ranking is the impact of the risks […]
• COVID-19, Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout The second part of the hypothesis states that the levels of STS and BO among caretakers during the pandemic will be higher than before it.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Preliminary Care Coordination The personal character of trauma and how the patient reacts to it justifies the need to design patient-centered interventions to address this healthcare problem.
• Circumstances Causing Stress in Adolescence Hold one’s breath for many seconds and gently exhale via the mouth to evacuate the lungs, hence easing the body of stress. The more one is stressed, the more difficult and nervous it is to […]
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Causes and Symptoms The article by Smith entitled Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is valuable because it offers important information on the causes and symptoms of PTSD and ways of recognizing and treating the condition.
• Mishele’s Theory Applied to Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress In other words, the theory addresses the problem of the subjective perception of the treatment outcomes and diseases under the prism of uncertainty.
• Major Depressive Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Her sleep is turbulent, she has rape nightmares, her mood is depressed, and her affect is congruent and constrained. Her mental process is rational and linear, and her mental faculties are largely intact.
• Meditation Effects on Anxiety and Stress My goal in this exercise was to use meditation to manage anxiety and stress and improve my general mental well-being. I am not accustomed to meditation and had to turn to YouTube for guidance.
• Stress and Deviance in College Education The other concept of the connection between deviance and stress is the stress factors. Management of stressors and the consequent effects on deviance among college students is yet to be investigated.
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Case Presentation Report Date of initial assessment: N/A PSEUDO Name: Ana Ana is a self-referred and re-occurring client who entered counseling after the case of domestic violence. As a result, Ana expressed feelings of anxiety and fear […]
• Panel: Women’s Stress and COVID-19 It is vital to examine what is known about the connection of women’s stress to COVID-19. Overall, the link between COVID-19 and women’s stress is apparent.
• Effects of Support on Stress in School Principals Threats to living standards and wellbeing, the strain on families and the escalation of injustices, changes in teaching techniques and the role of technology, and the disruption of higher learning and scholarship are among the […]
• The DSM-5 Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder The inference is backed by the fact that Victor’s traumatic situation is persistently manifesting intrusion symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, unwanted upsetting memories, and a lack of willingness to share previous hurtful events. Victor displays […]
• Early Life Stress: Resilience Development in Children For their own and the children’s sake, school counselors may be assigned to a particular institution in primary schools. An attempt to harness the unique qualities and capabilities that evolve in a high-stress setting is […]
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Research Therefore, the advantage of qualitative research, in this case, relates to the ability to investigate patients’ PTSD treatment experiences and uncover their meanings.
• Coping with Stress in Clinical Neuropsychiatry Joseph should be able to identify what is stressing him most, which in this case it is financial issues and the fact that his wife is always annoyed with him because he is always around, […]
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Misapprehension A significant proportion of civilians are affected by post-traumatic stress but ignore the symptoms and fail to seek early interventions influenced by misconceptions about how PTSD develops and its symptoms.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Opioid Use in Veterans This study examined the proportion of United States veterans who had PTSD and engaged in the use of illegal opioids to cope with it or had done so in the past.
• The Impact of Chronic Stress on Pathological Conditions Long-term stress is hazardous, as it damages the mechanisms of self-regulation of the body, leading to constant fluctuations in the level of hormones and unhealthy rhythms of breathing and heartbeat.
• Toxic Stress and Its Negative Effects The experience of toxic stress in the early years of life also negatively affects school performance and the physical development of children.
• Sex-Specific Effects of Music Listening on Couples’ Stress in Everyday Life Wuttke-Linnemann et al.also highlight the presence of gender-specific differences as to how specifically music listening can impact stress among men and women.
• Stress as an Important Psychological Issue The ability to complete work on time, learn new skills at the first request of the bosses, and the need to work overtime – all this is among the constant needs of a modern working […]
• Traumatic Stress Disorders & Treatment It will be based on the hypothesis that trauma has a detrimental impact on a person’s identity and is likely to result in adverse consequences in the future.
• Smoking and Stress Among Veterans The topic is significant to explore because of the misconception that smoking can alleviate the emotional burden of stress and anxiety when in reality, it has an exacerbating effect on emotional stress.
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in A Journal for Jordan Considering the loss of her husband in the war, Dana had not recovered, and the expression of irate reaction is a symptom of PTSD.
• Stress Management Benefits for Health Therefore, stress management strategies are crucial to eliminating the adverse impact of tension and anxiety. Physical activity and socializing are the techniques I have successfully applied to manage stress.
• Nurses’ Mental Health and Stress at Workplace This is the first research to present the viewpoints of mental health nurses on a resilience program. Theoretical ideas of resilience and understanding of mental health nurses’ resilience emerged through constant comparative study and integration […]
• The Relationship Between Stress and Health: Article Summary The implications of the study allow for stating that the increased exposure to stress at work leads to worsened health of the stressed individuals.
• Improving Nurses’ Stress Response During the COVID-19 The article is dedicated to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall health of nurses. It is necessary to study the mental health of nurses further and develop ways to level the negative […]
• Stress Management Skills of Student-Athletes Their responses will then be categorized as “low perceived stress,” “moderate perceived stress,” and “high perceived stress”. The students will then be qualified as possessing superior, above-average, average, or below-average stress management skills.
• Coping with Stress and Physical Health Problems In this regard, Julie, first of all, needs to accept the situation as it is, to appreciate the things and the context that she is no longer able to change.
• A Theorist View of Stress, Human Body and Mind As one can see, both K bler-Ross and Frankl focus on human stress as a form of suffering in the face of insurmountable life troubles, such as death or suffering.
• Employee Stress and Burnout at the Workplace This is done by giving outbreaks to those actively involved in the manufacture of the products and giving leaves for some time; the company has also created shift sessions that allow specified workers to take […]
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Development Avoidance of objects that remind you of the traumatic incident is another symptom of PTSD. Identifying erroneous and unreasonable beliefs about the incident and replacing them with a more balanced image is also part of […]
• Stress Management Techniques for Students: Yoga Yoga’s most major benefits are its capacity to relieve stress and exhaustion, to stimulate and revive, and to be used for anti-aging and calming treatment.
• Sexual Aversion and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder This aspect causes difficulties in prescribing therapy, since the latter requires a thorough study of the psychological nature of the problems. In the treatment of sexual aversion disorder, a doctor needs to investigate a complex […]
• Thoughts on Stress Management and Happiness Although she has all her financial needs met overwhelmingly, her failure to proceed with her studies and get employment makes her feel unsatisfied.
• Workplace Stress Among American Nurses During the Coronavirus Pandemic In this systematic review paper, the researcher seeks to discuss workplace stress among American nurses during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
• Secondary Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children The relationship between parents’ experiences and interactions with the onset of PTSD in children will be explored. There is vast information on the management of treatment and prevention of PTSD in children.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Parenting Style On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being lowest and 10 being highest, how much do you believe that kids need to learn early who the boss is in the family?
• Heat Stress at Provincial, Federal, and International Levels It formulates the purpose of the report, namely the comparison of norms and regulations for safe work at the provincial, federal and international levels.
• Durations of Vowels: Effect of Stress, Lexical Focus, and Segmental Focus The article in question addresses the correlation between the duration of a vowel and the type of focus or stress. De Jong and Zawaydeh address this phonetic issue on the basis of the Arabic language, […]
• Healthcare Workers’ Stress Coping Strategies This is especially relevant for the mental health domain, as the major flows of resources in the healthcare sectors all over the globe are directed towards combating the main adverse physical consequences of the infection.
• Stress and Depression Among Nursing Students The study aims to determine how different the manifestations of stress and depression are among American nursing students compared to students of other disciplines and what supports nursing students in continuing their education.
• The Stress of Working with Families There is an intricate shared history that is interpreted in different ways by different members, and the boundaries, psychological distances, and roles within and between family subsystems are constantly shifting.
• Coping with Stress: Stress and Health In terms of physical, emotional, and behavioral signs, Julia is experiencing severe stress, which requires the help of specialists and the introduction of various techniques that contribute to the normalization of all aspects of life.
• “Poverty, Toxic Stress, and Education…” Study by Kelly & Li Kelly and Li are concerned with the lack of research about poverty and toxic stress affecting the neurodevelopment of preterm children.
• Prefrontal Cortex and Effects of Stress Exposure However, the inability to control the stressor can reduce the prefrontal cortex’s capacity to regulate stress responses. Exposure to stress noticeably weakens the effectiveness of the prefrontal cortex while stimulating more primitive responses of the […]
• Stress as a Result of Combining Work and Family At the same time, it is difficult to say that such a life on a constant clear schedule contributes to the psychological health of a person.
• Analysis of Stress Management Aspects In the science of stress management, there are a number of practices aimed at strengthening the mental health of the student, thus improving their response to potentially stressful events.
• Phonetics and Phonology of English Word Stress People have trouble pronouncing some words in their L2 due to the influence of their L1 accent. Many students find it challenging to accurately pronounce words in their second language due to the influence of […]
• Adaptation to Stress of Endocrine and Sympathetic Nervous System Stress is a non-specific body reaction that occurs under the action of various extreme factors that threaten the violation of homeostasis and is characterized by stereotypical changes in the function of the nervous and endocrine […]
• The Resilience Handbook: Approaches to Stress and Trauma I was surprised to learn that music is not just the words but also the lyrics in the heart and mind.
• Assessing the Personal Stress Levels To ascertain the levels of stress in my everyday life, I have used several assessment tools. Implementing the “Symptoms of Stress” methodology, I have discovered that the occurrence of stress in my life is quite […]
• Stress Management Techniques The proposed strategies and examples should help students to understand different situations and overcome stress disregarding settings and external factors.
• Occupational Health: Workplace Stress To avoid noise-related stress, Ruth handles her job with a positive attitude and this makes it easy to enjoy work. In conclusion, work-related stress is a major cause of poor performance by employees due to […]
• Humor as the Leading Strategy of Stress Relief The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of humor as one of the leading stress management strategies. In other words, it does not suffice to know the sources of stress, as the […]
• Workplace Stress and Absenteeism in the Ship-Repair Industry: A Case Study This qualitative exploratory case study sought to discover techniques that production and project managers of a ship-repair company in the maritime industry use to minimize.
• Stress Patterns in Police Work: A Longitudinal Study The research problem identified by the investigator relates to the prevalence of distress in the police occupation. The primary variable of the study was the mean stress measure, which was derived from the Langner-22 list […]
• Occupational Stress: Patient Teaching Plan Physical exercise is helpful for the patients with work-related stress and anxiety. Physical exercise helps alleviate work and stress-related pains in different parts of the body.
• Stress Among Secondary and Tertiary Students The results of the study by Pascoe et al.demonstrate that the majority of students report high levels of stress and negative effects on their mental and physical health.
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Workplace What are the weakness of the study and how can it be improved. According to I/O psychologist work is done to obtain productivity and to improve the quality of life of the clients.
• Free Radicals, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidants The presence of ROS in excess causes oxidative stress in the body, leading to the oxidation of proteins and lipids and the transformation of their structures and roles in the body.
• Stress From a Biblical Perspective The Bible, in that case, provides a sense of hope and relief which leads to relaxation. In 1 Samuel 30:1-31, Amalekites exploited the opportunity of David and his men’s absence in the south city of […]
• Dealing With Stress: What Makes One’s Life Complete Carrying the burden of stress, I became rather reserved and unwilling to socialize, which led to certain misconceptions among my friends and me.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Pathophysiology Sakellariou and Stefanatou, further link threat responsiveness and fear regulation with the signalling of 5-HT within the amygdala; this is an area within the brain deemed essential in comprehending the reaction to fear and aetiology […]
• Workplace Yoga Reducing Stress in Employees Since the key idea of a project is to sell the yoga and meditation practice program to the other departments of a firm, it is important to understand the expected benefits.
• Cross-National Job Stress: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study That is why, in order to fill the substantial research gap, the exploratory study of Liu et al.examines the perceptions of job stress in two culturally dissimilar countries the United States and China using both […]
• The Effectiveness of Occupational Stress Management However, as it relates to analyzing the shipbuilding and ship-repair industries, the level of occupational stress is higher in comparison to other sectors of the economy, and the effectiveness of managing the problem is lower.
• Coping With Stress in Breast Cancer Patients Therefore, it is important for research experts to ensure and guarantee adherence to methodologies and guidelines that define scientific inquiry. However, various discrepancies manifest with regard to the initiation and propagation of research studies.
• Changes in Life and Psychological Stress Assessment The vagueness of the evaluation system and the lack of precision in terms of results assessment, however, beg the question whether psychological assessments can be trusted.
• Stress Management for Patients With Arthritis The study’s primary objectives were to substantiate the hypothesis of the relation between RA activity and stress and find the evidence for the basis of further decisions.
• Nursing Work Stress Level During Pandemics In the case of this project, the DNP student was able to review at length the issue of occupational stress in nursing.
• Stress Management Through Transcendental Meditation Thus, to improve productivity and the general wellbeing of its employees, a company ought to offer stress management program. However, transcendental meditation seems to be the most beneficial as it enables people to deal with […]
• Stress Analysis of Thin Walled Structures and Results This consideration takes the priority of the passengers’ safety to ensure they do not experience the effects of either deformation or heat dissipated by the parts involved in the impact.”At the same time other structural […]
• Advanced Stress Analysis – Characteristic of Model The choice of approach is done in the preliminary stages of structural design of shapes. 893Kg/mm3 The density of the envelope is 1.
• The Unified Trauma Theory of High-Stress Level Fatigue a Case of Loyola University The steps of this process are outlined, concluding with definitions and a description of the middle range theory of unified trauma theory of high-stress fatigue, which was developed.
• Stress Sources in a Detective’s Life One of the morale issues that can result from the behavior of the detective is the segregation of the detective by his workmates and none of them might want to work with him.
• Effects of Obesity on Neuroendocrine, and Immune Cell Responses to Stress All the participants of the experiment including obese and non-obese women were scheduled to days one to ten by their menstrual cycle. Statistic and comparative analyses were performed to compare the results of obese and […]
• Health and Wellness: Stress, Diabetes and Tobacco Related Problems Emotional health and well being refers to our ability to deal with our emotions as well as the emotions of those around us.
• Effective Use of Prazosin for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder All the traditional agents have shown to have several side effects and cannot be fully relied on in treatment of PTSD.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Diagnostics and Screening Do you observe a headache from the early morning? Do you have a headache when you sleep well?
• Effect of Stress Hormones on Brain Cells Cortisol hormone is responsible for the shrinking of the hippocampal volume that controls the formation of new neurons in the brain cells, and it may lead to depression.
• BMI and Stress Levels Among Students in the US The study is significant since it seeks to explore the differences in BMI and stress levels among domestic and international students in the US.
• Conger’s Stress and Family With Children
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Dealing With Grief – Stress Factors
• Stress at Work: Creating Healthy Organisations
• Wholeness Meeting to Deal With Stress in School
• Family Nursing and Stress Theory
• Adult Life Stress: Assessment Tools Analysis
• Personal Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques
• Relation Work – Stress – Health
• Stress, Emotional Intelligence, and Job Performance Correlation in Nursing
• Managing Stress Through Communication Skills in Nursing
• The Effectiveness of ICU Nurses in Reducing Stress among Family Members
• Mindfulness-Based Stress and Burnout Reduction in Nurses
• Stress-Strain Relation of Stainless Steel After Exposure to Fire
• Identifying Causes of Stress among Nurses
• Definition and Concept of Stress in Nursing
• Nursing Burnout: Increased Stress Experienced by Nurses
• Emotions and Stress on the Job
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Among Vets
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Overview
• Nurses and Stress: Mindfulness Meditation Program
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment in Intellectually Disabled Patients: The Promise of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy
• Women in the West Who Are Put Under Stress Due to Social Media
• Stress in the Teaching Fraternity
• Work Related Stress: Symptoms and Management
• Stress at Work: Main Aspects, Globalization Influence
• Client Diagnosis: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Stress Test Process to a Community Issue
• Employees’ Stress and Burnout
• Disaster Crisis: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
• Yoga and Stress Reduction
• Managing Stress: A Reflection of Personal Experience
• Personal & Professional Development: Managing Stress
• Stress Symptoms and Management
• Living With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• How Stress Affects Learning in Middle School
• Motivation, Emotion, Stress, Health and Work
• The Role of Stress in Our Everyday Life
• Employee Stress Causes in Different Countries
• Socio-Cultural and Stress Models in Diagnosis
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Rape Attempt
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Causes and Consequences
• Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Disease
• Stress, Depression and Psychoneuroimmunology
• How Can College Students Cope With Stress
• Stress, Its Effects on Health
• Causes and Effects of Marital Stress on the Health of Women
• Academic Related Sicknesses: Stress in Medical Students
• Stress Management and Wellness Programs by Corporate Sector
• Work Stress: Coping Through Work-Life Programs
• The Relationship Between Emotion Regulation Suppression and the Academic and Life Stress Levels
• Health and Stress in College Students
• Stress: Causes, Sources and Symptoms
• Sources of Stress Among African American Students
• Stress and Medical Students’ Lifes
• Impact of Stress on Intimate Relationship
• Stress of Police Officers and How They Cope With It
• Educational Psychology: Student Learning and Stress
• Acute and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders
• Impacts of High Stress Levels on Teachers
• Stress Management Under Organizational Psychology
• Stress and Higher Education Student: A Critical Review
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: German Researches
• Preventing Burnout in Preschool Teachers
• Can Stress Be Fattening: Discussion
• Sports Demands and Stress Management in Athletics
• Holmes and Rahe Stress Test and Coping Strategies
• Reducing Nurses’ Stress: A Web-Based Management Program
• Depression and Anxiety Due to School and Work-Related Stress
• Mental Healthcare in Louisiana: Growth in Stress Rates
• Student Loans and Financial Stress
• How Nurses Cope with Job Stress
• Family Stress and Crisis: We Got Through It
• Stress Among African American College Students
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Veteran Community
• Evidence-Based Procedures That Reduce Stress and Promote Health
• UAE: Stress Management and Organizational Performance
• Organizational Concern: Job Stress and Burnout
• “Emotional Freedom Technique and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” by Rebecca L. Fahey
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Treatment Effectiveness
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Missouri Veterans
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Management in Children
• College Student Work Habits, Interruptions, and Stress
• Stress Factors in the Queer Community
• Chronobiology and Stress in Horses
• Horse Transportation and Stress-Reducing Strategies
• Heat Stress in Flight Cockpits in the Desert Climate
• Employment and Stress Management
• Spiritual Life: Avoiding Stress Burnout
• Interviewing the Patient: Stress and Anxiety Reasons
• Productivity and Work-Related Stress in the UAE
• Workplace Stress and Labor Law in the United Kingdom
• Stress Management: Personal Success Plan
• Does Locus of Control and Motivation Predict Occupational Stress?
• Modern Workplace Issues: Stress, Conflict, Quality
• Occupational Stress in the Maritime Industry
• Racial Disparities in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Hispanic Teenager
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment in Soldier
• Stress Impact on Self-Esteam and Personal Growth
• Employee Motivation, Termination, and Work Stress
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Modality Treatment Plan
• Anxiety Disorder: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Crisis Intervention Model and Critical Stress Management
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Theories
• Emotion Regulation and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Workplace Stress and Mitigating Measures
• Stress Factors in the Fire Service
• Early-Life Stress and Adult Inflammation: Fagundes & Way’s Study
• Stress, Conflict and Misunderstandings in the Workplace
• Stress Increases the Desire to Eat Sweets
• How Coffee Affects Stress?
• Burnout, Compassion Fatigue and Stress at Workplace
• Organisational Stress and Its Possible Transformations
• Stress Assessment Questionnaire Ethical Usage
• Stress in Policing: Reasons and Effects
• Meditation as a Way to Alleviate Stress
• Stress Management for Life
• Sexual Harassment and Psychological Stress
• Prenatal Maternal Stress Outcomes
• Discretion, Job Stress, and Other Policing Issues
• Workplace Stress Management Programs
• Kant’s and Mill’s Ideas for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Intimate Partner Violence and Maternal Stress
• Stress Statistics, Definition, and Perception
• Physiological Mechanism of Stress
• Post-Traumatic Stress and Evidence-Based Practice
• Stress as a Risk Factor for Inflammation
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assets and Facilities
• Minority Stress and Health: Societal Issues
• Housewives’ Compensation and Stress Factors
• Stress and Eating Behavior
• Ways to Manage Stress and Enhance Well-Being for Students
• Police Stress Within Law Enforcement
• To Better Cope With Stress, Listen to Your Body
• “Stress” Video and “A Natural Fix for ADHD” Article
• Organizational Stress and Job Satisfaction Relationships
• The Effect Job Stress on Satisfaction with Life
• Ethics Code for Human Participation in Stress Reduction
• Office 2010 Transformation: Stress Management Plan
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Combat Fatigue
• Genentech Inc.’s Workplace Stress Management
• Stress, Depression, and Responses to Them
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Caucasian Girl’ Case
• Students’ Stress Levels in Kean University
• Acute Stress Disorder: Cynthia’s Treatment Case
• Great Recession Impact on Workplace Stress
• Food and Stress Relationship: Psychological Factor
• Stress Management Strategies in Applied Psychology
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Soldiers
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Gender Variations
• Stress Impacts on the Human Development
• Stress Levels and Stress Management Methods
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Joseph Wolpe Treatment Theory
• Reducing Stress: Cognitive Patterns and Behaviors Changing
• Stress: Effects and Management Proposal
• Health Psychology: Eating and Stress’ Relations
• Stress and Recovery After Rape
• The Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory – Psychology
• Mood and Stress Psychology: Causes, Effects and Treatments
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Psychology
• Managing Stress and Depression at Work Places – Psychology
• Job’ Stress and Depression
• Stress and Burnout in Law Enforcement
• Police and Corrections Officers’ Stress – Psychology
• Stress and Strains in the Renaissance Society
• Infidelity as a Cause of Divorce and Stress Disorder
• Walmart Company: Reducing Employee Stress
• Stress Reduction at Work
• Stress’ Definition and Effects
• Suggestions on Stress Management
• Correlation Study of the Relationship Between Individual Resilience, Hope, Stress and Humour
• Stress & Its Effects on the Brain and Body
• Ability to Manage Stress as the Most Important Skill of Effective Communicators
• Stress Management and Work Performance in the UK
• The Relationship Between Employee Productivity and Work Related Stress
• The Caregiver Burnout and Long-Term Stress
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Principles and Types
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans
• The Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Depression, Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress for Women After Spousal Emotional Abuse
• Critical Evaluation of Stress Management Approaches
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments
• Critical Review of a Mental Disorder: The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in DSM-IV-TR
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Treatment
• Stress Management and Work Performance in the United Kingdom
• Underlying Issues Associated with Sleep Disorders and Stress
• How College Athletes Deal with Stress and Manage Time
• Impact and Strategies of Fiscal Stress on States and Municipalities
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Abused Women
• Acute Stress Reaction and Acute Stress Disorder
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: History and Symptoms
• Biological Factors Involved in Stress
• Posttraumatic stress. The Case of Mary
• Stress Management among Customer Service Employees: Antecedents & Interventions
• Depression: Law Enforcement Officers and Stress
• The Impact of Stress & Unpleasant Feelings on People
• The Causes of Stress in the Contemporary Society
• Earthquakes as a Cause of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Workplace Stress Problem
• Reducing Stress in Al-Khobar
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Developed in Repeated War Zones Deployment
• Towards Understanding Stress-Related Issues Affecting First Year Students on Their Transition Into University Culture
• Stress and Injury in Sports
• Family, Stress and Delinquency among Adolescent
• Effects of stress on physical health
• Stress at the Workplace for Correctional Officers
• Human Stress and Dale Carnegie
• “Denial: A Memoir” a Book by Jessica Stern
• Adjustment in Psychology: Stress
• Reaction to Stress: Flight or Fight
• Conflict and Stress: Their Potential Impact on a Project
• How Stress Affects Different Personality Types
• Abnormal Psychology: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Diverse Effects of the Work Related Stress
• Problems of the Employee Stress in Organizations
• Managing Time and Stress
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Tim O’Brien’s “In the Lake of Woods”
• Randomized Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in Adult Female Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
• How Stress Affects Your Physical Health?
• The Experiment to Prove the Fact That Psychological Stress Causes Headache
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Assessment and Treatment Strategies
• Controlling Stress and Tension
• Research Application of How College Athletes Deal with Stress and Manage Time
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans and How Family Relationships Are Affected
• Self Efficacy, Stress & Coping, and Headspace Program
• Characteristics and Treatments of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Analysis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military Personnel
• Work-Related Stress: Impeding Organization’s Success
• The Study of Human Behavior and Stress
• Does Cardiorespiratory Fitness Buffer Stress Reactivity and Stress Recovery in Police Officers?
• What Does Stress Really Stress?
• Where Does Stress Come From and How Does It Affect a Pregnant Mother and Her Unborn Child?
• Can Stress Cause Severe Headache?
• Does Compressing High School Duration Affect Students’ Stress and Mental Health?
• Does Regular Exercise Reduce Stress Levels?
• How Long Does Birth Trauma Last?
• Does Telework Stress Employees Out?
• Can Detox Tea Relieve Stress?
• Are Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Avoidant Coping Inhibitory Factors?
• What makes Stress and Burnout?
• Can Stress Cause Coronary Heart Disease?
• Can Local Stress Enhancement Induce Stability in Fracture Processes?
• What Cause Students Stress?
• Does Practical Parenting Stress You Out?
• What Does Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Truly Mean?
• Does Elevated Job Stress Affect Smoking Levels?
• What Causes Psychological Stress?
• Does Prolonged Stress Increase the Likelihood of a Stroke?
• Can Music Therapy Improve Stress Anxiety?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Buffer the Effects of Acute Stress?
• Whether Stress Have Any Effect on the Productivity of Employees in an Organization?
• Can Simulated Green Exercise Improve Recovery From Acute Mental Stress?
• Can Social Support Alleviate Stress While Shopping in Crowded Retail Environments?
• Can the Attention Training Technique Reduce Stress in Students?
• Are Certain Personalities More Prone to Stress?
• Can Stress Trigger Diseases?
• Does Acute Stress Impact Declarative and Procedural Learning?
• Does Prenatal Stress Shape Postnatal Resilience?
• Are Quebecers More Stressed Out at Work Than Others?
• Mental Illness Research Topics
• Human Development Research Ideas
• Abnormal Psychology Paper Topics
• Cognitive Development Essay Ideas
• Depression Essay Topics
• Health Promotion Research Topics
• Mindfulness Research Ideas
• Positive Psychology Titles
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IvyPanda . "420 Stress Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/stress-essay-examples/.

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Work, stress, coping, and stress management.

• Sharon Glazer Sharon Glazer University of Baltimore
•  and  Cong Liu Cong Liu Hofstra University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.30
• Published online: 26 April 2017

Work stress refers to the process of job stressors, or stimuli in the workplace, leading to strains, or negative responses or reactions. Organizational development refers to a process in which problems or opportunities in the work environment are identified, plans are made to remediate or capitalize on the stimuli, action is taken, and subsequently the results of the plans and actions are evaluated. When organizational development strategies are used to assess work stress in the workplace, the actions employed are various stress management interventions. Two key factors tying work stress and organizational development are the role of the person and the role of the environment. In order to cope with work-related stressors and manage strains, organizations must be able to identify and differentiate between factors in the environment that are potential sources of stressors and how individuals perceive those factors. Primary stress management interventions focus on preventing stressors from even presenting, such as by clearly articulating workers’ roles and providing necessary resources for employees to perform their job. Secondary stress management interventions focus on a person’s appraisal of job stressors as a threat or challenge, and the person’s ability to cope with the stressors (presuming sufficient internal resources, such as a sense of meaningfulness in life, or external resources, such as social support from a supervisor). When coping is not successful, strains may develop. Tertiary stress management interventions attempt to remediate strains, by addressing the consequence itself (e.g., diabetes management) and/or the source of the strain (e.g., reducing workload). The person and/or the organization may be the targets of the intervention. The ultimate goal of stress management interventions is to minimize problems in the work environment, intensify aspects of the work environment that create a sense of a quality work context, enable people to cope with stressors that might arise, and provide tools for employees and organizations to manage strains that might develop despite all best efforts to create a healthy workplace.

• stress management
• organization development
• organizational interventions
• stress theories and frameworks

Introduction

Work stress is a generic term that refers to work-related stimuli (aka job stressors) that may lead to physical, behavioral, or psychological consequences (i.e., strains) that affect both the health and well-being of the employee and the organization. Not all stressors lead to strains, but all strains are a result of stressors, actual or perceived. Common terms often used interchangeably with work stress are occupational stress, job stress, and work-related stress. Terms used interchangeably with job stressors include work stressors, and as the specificity of the type of stressor might include psychosocial stressor (referring to the psychological experience of work demands that have a social component, e.g., conflict between two people; Hauke, Flintrop, Brun, & Rugulies, 2011 ), hindrance stressor (i.e., a stressor that prevents goal attainment; Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Boudreau, 2000 ), and challenge stressor (i.e., a stressor that is difficult, but attainable and possibly rewarding to attain; Cavanaugh et al., 2000 ).

Stress in the workplace continues to be a highly pervasive problem, having both direct negative effects on individuals experiencing it and companies paying for it, and indirect costs vis à vis lost productivity (Dopkeen & DuBois, 2014 ). For example, U.K. public civil servants’ work-related stress rose from 10.8% in 2006 to 22.4% in 2013 and about one-third of the workforce has taken more than 20 days of leave due to stress-related ill-health, while well over 50% are present at work when ill (French, 2015 ). These findings are consistent with a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO, 2012 ), whereby 50% to 60% of all workdays are lost due to absence attributed to factors associated with work stress.

The prevalence of work-related stress is not diminishing despite improvements in technology and employment rates. The sources of stress, such as workload, seem to exacerbate with improvements in technology (Coovert & Thompson, 2003 ). Moreover, accessibility through mobile technology and virtual computer terminals is linking people to their work more than ever before (ILO, 2012 ; Tarafdar, Tu, Ragu-Nathan, & Ragu-Nathan, 2007 ). Evidence of this kind of mobility and flexibility is further reinforced in a June 2007 survey of 4,025 email users (over 13 years of age); AOL reported that four in ten survey respondents reported planning their vacations around email accessibility and 83% checked their emails at least once a day while away (McMahon, 2007 ). Ironically, despite these mounting work-related stressors and clear financial and performance outcomes, some individuals are reporting they are less “stressed,” but only because “stress has become the new normal” (Jayson, 2012 , para. 4).

This new normal is likely the source of psychological and physiological illness. Siegrist ( 2010 ) contends that conditions in the workplace, particularly psychosocial stressors that are perceived as unfavorable relationships with others and self, and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle (reinforced with desk jobs) are increasingly contributing to cardiovascular disease. These factors together justify a need to continue on the path of helping individuals recognize and cope with deleterious stressors in the work environment and, equally important, to find ways to help organizations prevent harmful stressors over which they have control, as well as implement policies or mechanisms to help employees deal with these stressors and subsequent strains. Along with a greater focus on mitigating environmental constraints are interventions that can be used to prevent anxiety, poor attitudes toward the workplace conditions and arrangements, and subsequent cardiovascular illness, absenteeism, and poor job performance (Siegrist, 2010 ).

Even the ILO has presented guidance on how the workplace can help prevent harmful job stressors (aka hindrance stressors) or at least help workers cope with them. Consistent with the view that well-being is not the absence of stressors or strains and with the view that positive psychology offers a lens for proactively preventing stressors, the ILO promotes increasing preventative risk assessments, interventions to prevent and control stressors, transparent organizational communication, worker involvement in decision-making, networks and mechanisms for workplace social support, awareness of how working and living conditions interact, safety, health, and well-being in the organization (ILO, n.d. ). The field of industrial and organizational (IO) psychology supports the ILO’s recommendations.

IO psychology views work stress as the process of a person’s interaction with multiple aspects of the work environment, job design, and work conditions in the organization. Interventions to manage work stress, therefore, focus on the psychosocial factors of the person and his or her relationships with others and the socio-technical factors related to the work environment and work processes. Viewing work stress from the lens of the person and the environment stems from Kurt Lewin’s ( 1936 ) work that stipulates a person’s state of mental health and behaviors are a function of the person within a specific environment or situation. Aspects of the work environment that affect individuals’ mental states and behaviors include organizational hierarchy, organizational climate (including processes, policies, practices, and reward structures), resources to support a person’s ability to fulfill job duties, and management structure (including leadership). Job design refers to each contributor’s tasks and responsibilities for fulfilling goals associated with the work role. Finally, working conditions refers not only to the physical environment, but also the interpersonal relationships with other contributors.

Each of the conditions that are identified in the work environment may be perceived as potentially harmful or a threat to the person or as an opportunity. When a stressor is perceived as a threat to attaining desired goals or outcomes, the stressor may be labeled as a hindrance stressor (e.g., LePine, Podsakoff, & Lepine, 2005 ). When the stressor is perceived as an opportunity to attain a desired goal or end state, it may be labeled as a challenge stressor. According to LePine and colleagues’ ( 2005 ), both challenge (e.g., time urgency, workload) and hindrance (e.g., hassles, role ambiguity, role conflict) stressors could lead to strains (as measured by “anxiety, depersonalization, depression, emotional exhaustion, frustration, health complaints, hostility, illness, physical symptoms, and tension” [p. 767]). However, challenge stressors positively relate with motivation and performance, whereas hindrance stressors negatively relate with motivation and performance. Moreover, motivation and strains partially mediate the relationship between hindrance and challenge stressors with performance.

Figure 1. Organizational development frameworks to guide identification of work stress and interventions.

In order to (1) minimize any potential negative effects from stressors, (2) increase coping skills to deal with stressors, or (3) manage strains, organizational practitioners or consultants will devise organizational interventions geared toward prevention, coping, and/or stress management. Ultimately, toxic factors in the work environment can have deleterious effects on a person’s physical and psychological well-being, as well as on an organization’s total health. It behooves management to take stock of the organization’s health, which includes the health and well-being of its employees, if the organization wishes to thrive and be profitable. According to Page and Vella-Brodrick’s ( 2009 ) model of employee well-being, employee well-being results from subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and general positive or negative affect), workplace well-being (composed of job satisfaction and work-specific positive or negative affect), and psychological well-being (e.g., self-acceptance, positive social relations, mastery, purpose in life). Job stressors that become unbearable are likely to negatively affect workplace well-being and thus overall employee well-being. Because work stress is a major organizational pain point and organizations often employ organizational consultants to help identify and remediate pain points, the focus here is on organizational development (OD) frameworks; several work stress frameworks are presented that together signal areas where organizations might focus efforts for change in employee behaviors, attitudes, and performance, as well as the organization’s performance and climate. Work stress, interventions, and several OD and stress frameworks are depicted in Figure 1 .

The goals are: (1) to conceptually define and clarify terms associated with stress and stress management, particularly focusing on organizational factors that contribute to stress and stress management, and (2) to present research that informs current knowledge and practices on workplace stress management strategies. Stressors and strains will be defined, leading OD and work stress frameworks that are used to organize and help organizations make sense of the work environment and the organization’s responsibility in stress management will be explored, and stress management will be explained as an overarching thematic label; an area of study and practice that focuses on prevention (primary) interventions, coping (secondary) interventions, and managing strains (tertiary) interventions; as well as the label typically used to denote tertiary interventions. Suggestions for future research and implications toward becoming a healthy organization are presented.

Defining Stressors and Strains

Work-related stressors or job stressors can lead to different kinds of strains individuals and organizations might experience. Various types of stress management interventions, guided by OD and work stress frameworks, may be employed to prevent or cope with job stressors and manage strains that develop(ed).

A job stressor is a stimulus external to an employee and a result of an employee’s work conditions. Example job stressors include organizational constraints, workplace mistreatments (such as abusive supervision, workplace ostracism, incivility, bullying), role stressors, workload, work-family conflicts, errors or mistakes, examinations and evaluations, and lack of structure (Jex & Beehr, 1991 ; Liu, Spector, & Shi, 2007 ; Narayanan, Menon, & Spector, 1999 ). Although stressors may be categorized as hindrances and challenges, there is not yet sufficient information to be able to propose which stress management interventions would better serve to reduce those hindrance stressors or to reduce strain-producing challenge stressors while reinforcing engagement-producing challenge stressors.

Organizational Constraints

Organizational constraints may be hindrance stressors as they prevent employees from translating their motivation and ability into high-level job performance (Peters & O’Connor, 1980 ). Peters and O’Connor ( 1988 ) defined 11 categories of organizational constraints: (1) job-related information, (2) budgetary support, (3) required support, (4) materials and supplies, (5) required services and help from others, (6) task preparation, (7) time availability, (8) the work environment, (9) scheduling of activities, (10) transportation, and (11) job-relevant authority. The inhibiting effect of organizational constraints may be due to the lack of, inadequacy of, or poor quality of these categories.

Workplace Mistreatment

Workplace mistreatment presents a cluster of interpersonal variables, such as interpersonal conflict, bullying, incivility, and workplace ostracism (Hershcovis, 2011 ; Tepper & Henle, 2011 ). Typical workplace mistreatment behaviors include gossiping, rude comments, showing favoritism, yelling, lying, and ignoring other people at work (Tepper & Henle, 2011 ). These variables relate to employees’ psychological well-being, physical well-being, work attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction and organizational commitment), and turnover intention (e.g., Hershcovis, 2011 ; Spector & Jex, 1998 ). Some researchers differentiated the source of mistreatment, such as mistreatment from one’s supervisor versus mistreatment from one’s coworker (e.g., Bruk-Lee & Spector, 2006 ; Frone, 2000 ; Liu, Liu, Spector, & Shi, 2011 ).

Role Stressors

Role stressors are demands, constraints, or opportunities a person perceives to be associated, and thus expected, with his or her work role(s) across various situations. Three commonly studied role stressors are role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload (Glazer & Beehr, 2005 ; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964 ). Role ambiguity in the workplace occurs when an employee lacks clarity regarding what performance-related behaviors are expected of him or her. Role conflict refers to situations wherein an employee receives incompatible role requests from the same or different supervisors or the employee is asked to engage in work that impedes his or her performance in other work or nonwork roles or clashes with his or her values. Role overload refers to excessive demands and insufficient time (quantitative) or knowledge (qualitative) to complete the work. The construct is often used interchangeably with workload, though role overload focuses more on perceived expectations from others about one’s workload. These role stressors significantly relate to low job satisfaction, low organizational commitment, low job performance, high tension or anxiety, and high turnover intention (Abramis, 1994 ; Glazer & Beehr, 2005 ; Jackson & Schuler, 1985 ).

Excessive workload is one of the most salient stressors at work (e.g., Liu et al., 2007 ). There are two types of workload: quantitative and qualitative workload (LaRocco, Tetrick, & Meder, 1989 ; Parasuraman & Purohit, 2000 ). Quantitative workload refers to the excessive amount of work one has. In a summary of a Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development Report from 2006 , Dewe and Kompier ( 2008 ) noted that quantitative workload was one of the top three stressors workers experienced at work. Qualitative workload refers to the difficulty of work. Workload also differs by the type of the load. There are mental workload and physical workload (Dwyer & Ganster, 1991 ). Excessive physical workload may result in physical discomfort or illness. Excessive mental workload will cause psychological distress such as anxiety or frustration (Bowling & Kirkendall, 2012 ). Another factor affecting quantitative workload is interruptions (during the workday). Lin, Kain, and Fritz ( 2013 ) found that interruptions delay completion of job tasks, thus adding to the perception of workload.

Work-Family Conflict

Work-family conflict is a form of inter-role conflict in which demands from one’s work domain and one’s family domain are incompatible to some extent (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985 ). Work can interfere with family (WIF) and/or family can interfere with work (FIW) due to time-related commitments to participating in one domain or another, incompatible behavioral expectations, or when strains in one domain carry over to the other (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985 ). Work-family conflict significantly relates to work-related outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, burnout, absenteeism, job performance, job strains, career satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors), family-related outcomes (e.g., marital satisfaction, family satisfaction, family-related performance, family-related strains), and domain-unspecific outcomes (e.g., life satisfaction, psychological strain, somatic or physical symptoms, depression, substance use or abuse, and anxiety; Amstad, Meier, Fasel, Elfering, & Semmer, 2011 ).

Individuals and organizations can experience work-related strains. Sometimes organizations will experience strains through the employee’s negative attitudes or strains, such as that a worker’s absence might yield lower production rates, which would roll up into an organizational metric of organizational performance. In the industrial and organizational (IO) psychology literature, organizational strains are mostly observed as macro-level indicators, such as health insurance costs, accident-free days, and pervasive problems with company morale. In contrast, individual strains, usually referred to as job strains, are internal to an employee. They are responses to work conditions and relate to health and well-being of employees. In other words, “job strains are adverse reactions employees have to job stressors” (Spector, Chen, & O’Connell, 2000 , p. 211). Job strains tend to fall into three categories: behavioral, physical, and psychological (Jex & Beehr, 1991 ).

Behavioral strains consist of actions that employees take in response to job stressors. Examples of behavioral strains include employees drinking alcohol in the workplace or intentionally calling in sick when they are not ill (Spector et al., 2000 ). Physical strains consist of health symptoms that are physiological in nature that employees contract in response to job stressors. Headaches and ulcers are examples of physical strains. Lastly, psychological strains are emotional reactions and attitudes that employees have in response to job stressors. Examples of psychological strains are job dissatisfaction, anxiety, and frustration (Spector et al., 2000 ). Interestingly, research studies that utilize self-report measures find that most job strains experienced by employees tend to be psychological strains (Spector et al., 2000 ).

Leading Frameworks

Organizations that are keen on identifying organizational pain points and remedying them through organizational campaigns or initiatives often discover the pain points are rooted in work-related stressors and strains and the initiatives have to focus on reducing workers’ stress and increasing a company’s profitability. Through organizational climate surveys, for example, companies discover that aspects of the organization’s environment, including its policies, practices, reward structures, procedures, and processes, as well as employees at all levels of the company, are contributing to the individual and organizational stress. Recent studies have even begun to examine team climates for eustress and distress assessed in terms of team members’ homogenous psychological experience of vigor, efficacy, dedication, and cynicism (e.g., Kożusznik, Rodriguez, & Peiro, 2015 ).

Each of the frameworks presented advances different aspects that need to be identified in order to understand the source and potential remedy for stressors and strains. In some models, the focus is on resources, in others on the interaction of the person and environment, and in still others on the role of the person in the workplace. Few frameworks directly examine the role of the organization, but the organization could use these frameworks to plan interventions that would minimize stressors, cope with existing stressors, and prevent and/or manage strains. One of the leading frameworks in work stress research that is used to guide organizational interventions is the person and environment (P-E) fit (French & Caplan, 1972 ). Its precursor is the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research’s (ISR) role stress model (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964 ) and Lewin’s Field Theory. Several other theories have since evolved from the P-E fit framework, including Karasek and Theorell’s ( 1990 ), Karasek ( 1979 ) Job Demands-Control Model (JD-C), the transactional framework (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ), Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989 ), and Siegrist’s ( 1996 ) Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Model.

Field Theory

The premise of Kahn et al.’s ( 1964 ) role stress theory is Lewin’s ( 1997 ) Field Theory. Lewin purported that behavior and mental events are a dynamic function of the whole person, including a person’s beliefs, values, abilities, needs, thoughts, and feelings, within a given situation (field or environment), as well as the way a person represents his or her understanding of the field and behaves in that space. Lewin explains that work-related strains are a result of individuals’ subjective perceptions of objective factors, such as work roles, relationships with others in the workplace, as well as personality indicators, and can be used to predict people’s reactions, including illness. Thus, to make changes to an organizational system, it is necessary to understand a field and try to move that field from the current state to the desired state. Making this move necessitates identifying mechanisms influencing individuals.

Role Stress Theory

Role stress theory mostly isolates the perspective a person has about his or her work-related responsibilities and expectations to determine how those perceptions relate with a person’s work-related strains. However, those relationships have been met with somewhat varied results, which Glazer and Beehr ( 2005 ) concluded might be a function of differences in culture, an environmental factor often neglected in research. Kahn et al.’s ( 1964 ) role stress theory, coupled with Lewin’s ( 1936 ) Field Theory, serves as the foundation for the P-E fit theory. Lewin ( 1936 ) wrote, “Every psychological event depends upon the state of the person and at the same time on the environment” (p. 12). Researchers of IO psychology have narrowed the environment to the organization or work team. This narrowed view of the organizational environment is evident in French and Caplan’s ( 1972 ) P-E fit framework.

Person-Environment Fit Theory

The P-E fit framework focuses on the extent to which there is congruence between the person and a given environment, such as the organization (Caplan, 1987 ; Edwards, 2008 ). For example, does the person have the necessary skills and abilities to fulfill an organization’s demands, or does the environment support a person’s desire for autonomy (i.e., do the values align?) or fulfill a person’s needs (i.e., a person’s needs are rewarded). Theoretically and empirically, the greater the person-organization fit, the greater a person’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the less a person’s turnover intention and work-related stress (see meta-analyses by Assouline & Meir, 1987 ; Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005 ; Verquer, Beehr, & Wagner, 2003 ).

Job Demands-Control/Support (JD-C/S) and Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model

Focusing more closely on concrete aspects of work demands and the extent to which a person perceives he or she has control or decision latitude over those demands, Karasek ( 1979 ) developed the JD-C model. Karasek and Theorell ( 1990 ) posited that high job demands under conditions of little decision latitude or control yield high strains, which have varied implications on the health of an organization (e.g., in terms of high turnover, employee ill-health, poor organizational performance). This theory was modified slightly to address not only control, but also other resources that could protect a person from unruly job demands, including support (aka JD-C/S, Johnson & Hall, 1988 ; and JD-R, Bakker, van Veldhoven, & Xanthopoulou, 2010 ). Whether focusing on control or resources, both they and job demands are said to reflect workplace characteristics, while control and resources also represent coping strategies or tools (Siegrist, 2010 ).

Despite the glut of research testing the JD-C and JD-R, results are somewhat mixed. Testing the interaction between job demands and control, Beehr, Glaser, Canali, and Wallwey ( 2001 ) did not find empirical support for the JD-C theory. However, Dawson, O’Brien, and Beehr ( 2016 ) found that high control and high support buffered against the independent deleterious effects of interpersonal conflict, role conflict, and organizational politics (demands that were categorized as hindrance stressors) on anxiety, as well as the effects of interpersonal conflict and organizational politics on physiological symptoms, but control and support did not moderate the effects between challenge stressors and strains. Coupled with Bakker, Demerouti, and Sanz-Vergel’s ( 2014 ) note that excessive job demands are a source of strain, but increased job resources are a source of engagement, Dawson et al.’s results suggest that when an organization identifies that demands are hindrances, it can create strategies for primary (preventative) stress management interventions and attempt to remove or reduce such work demands. If the demands are challenging, though manageable, but latitude to control the challenging stressors and support are insufficient, the organization could modify practices and train employees on adopting better strategies for meeting or coping (secondary stress management intervention) with the demands. Finally, if the organization can neither afford to modify the demands or the level of control and support, it will be necessary for the organization to develop stress management (tertiary) interventions to deal with the inevitable strains.

Conservation of Resources Theory

The idea that job resources reinforce engagement in work has been propagated in Hobfoll’s ( 1989 ) Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. COR theory also draws on the foundational premise that people’s mental health is a function of the person and the environment, forwarding that how people interpret their environment (including the societal context) affects their stress levels. Hobfoll focuses on resources such as objects, personal characteristics, conditions, or energies as particularly instrumental to minimizing strains. He asserts that people do whatever they can to protect their valued resources. Thus, strains develop when resources are threatened to be taken away, actually taken away, or when additional resources are not attainable after investing in the possibility of gaining more resources (Hobfoll, 2001 ). By extension, organizations can invest in activities that would minimize resource loss and create opportunities for resource gains and thus have direct implications for devising primary and secondary stress management interventions.

Transactional Framework

Lazarus and Folkman ( 1984 ) developed the widely studied transactional framework of stress. This framework holds as a key component the cognitive appraisal process. When individuals perceive factors in the work environment as a threat (i.e., primary appraisal), they will scan the available resources (external or internal to himself or herself) to cope with the stressors (i.e., secondary appraisal). If the coping resources provide minimal relief, strains develop. Until recently, little attention has been given to the cognitive appraisal associated with different work stressors (Dewe & Kompier, 2008 ; Liu & Li, 2017 ). In a study of Polish and Spanish social care service providers, stressors appraised as a threat related positively to burnout and less engagement, but stressors perceived as challenges yielded greater engagement and less burnout (Kożusznik, Rodriguez, & Peiro, 2012 ). Similarly, Dawson et al. ( 2016 ) found that even with support and control resources, hindrance demands were more strain-producing than challenge demands, suggesting that appraisal of the stressor is important. In fact, “many people respond well to challenging work” (Beehr et al., 2001 , p. 126). Kożusznik et al. ( 2012 ) recommend training employees to change the way they view work demands in order to increase engagement, considering that part of the problem may be about how the person appraises his or her environment and, thus, copes with the stressors.

Effort-Reward Imbalance

Siegrist’s ( 1996 ) Model of Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) focuses on the notion of social reciprocity, such that a person fulfills required work tasks in exchange for desired rewards (Siegrist, 2010 ). ERI sheds light on how an imbalance in a person’s expectations of an organization’s rewards (e.g., pay, bonus, sense of advancement and development, job security) in exchange for a person’s efforts, that is a break in one’s work contract, leads to negative responses, including long-term ill-health (Siegrist, 2010 ; Siegrist et al., 2014 ). In fact, prolonged perception of a work contract imbalance leads to adverse health, including immunological problems and inflammation, which contribute to cardiovascular disease (Siegrist, 2010 ). The model resembles the relational and interactional psychological contract theory in that it describes an employee’s perception of the terms of the relationship between the person and the workplace, including expectations of performance, job security, training and development opportunities, career progression, salary, and bonuses (Thomas, Au, & Ravlin, 2003 ). The psychological contract, like the ERI model, focuses on social exchange. Furthermore, the psychological contract, like stress theories, are influenced by cultural factors that shape how people interpret their environments (Glazer, 2008 ; Thomas et al., 2003 ). Violations of the psychological contract will negatively affect a person’s attitudes toward the workplace and subsequent health and well-being (Siegrist, 2010 ). To remediate strain, Siegrist ( 2010 ) focuses on both the person and the environment, recognizing that the organization is particularly responsible for changing unfavorable work conditions and the person is responsible for modifying his or her reactions to such conditions.

Stress Management Interventions: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary

Remediation of work stress and organizational development interventions are about realigning the employee’s experiences in the workplace with factors in the environment, as well as closing the gap between the current environment and the desired environment. Work stress develops when an employee perceives the work demands to exceed the person’s resources to cope and thus threatens employee well-being (Dewe & Kompier, 2008 ). Likewise, an organization’s need to change arises when forces in the environment are creating a need to change in order to survive (see Figure 1 ). Lewin’s ( 1951 ) Force Field Analysis, the foundations of which are in Field Theory, is one of the first organizational development intervention tools presented in the social science literature. The concept behind Force Field Analysis is that in order to survive, organizations must adapt to environmental forces driving a need for organizational change and remove restraining forces that create obstacles to organizational change. In order to do this, management needs to delineate the current field in which the organization is functioning, understand the driving forces for change, identify and dampen or eliminate the restraining forces against change. Several models for analyses may be applied, but most approaches are variations of organizational climate surveys.

Through organizational surveys, workers provide management with a snapshot view of how they perceive aspects of their work environment. Thus, the view of the health of an organization is a function of several factors, chief among them employees’ views (i.e., the climate) about the workplace (Lewin, 1951 ). Indeed, French and Kahn ( 1962 ) posited that well-being depends on the extent to which properties of the person and properties of the environment align in terms of what a person requires and the resources available in a given environment. Therefore, only when properties of the person and properties of the environment are sufficiently understood can plans for change be developed and implemented targeting the environment (e.g., change reporting structures to relieve, and thus prevent future, communication stressors) and/or the person (e.g., providing more autonomy, vacation days, training on new technology). In short, climate survey findings can guide consultants about the emphasis for organizational interventions: before a problem arises aka stress prevention, e.g., carefully crafting job roles), when a problem is present, but steps are taken to mitigate their consequences (aka coping, e.g., providing social support groups), and/or once strains develop (aka. stress management, e.g., healthcare management policies).

For each of the primary (prevention), secondary (coping), and tertiary (stress management) techniques the target for intervention can be the entire workforce, a subset of the workforce, or a specific person. Interventions that target the entire workforce may be considered organizational interventions, as they have direct implications on the health of all individuals and consequently the health of the organization. Several interventions categorized as primary and secondary interventions may also be implemented after strains have developed and after it has been discerned that a person or the organization did not do enough to mitigate stressors or strains (see Figure 1 ). The designation of many of the interventions as belonging to one category or another may be viewed as merely a suggestion.

Primary Interventions (Preventative Stress Management)

Before individuals begin to perceive work-related stressors, organizations engage in stress prevention strategies, such as providing people with resources (e.g., computers, printers, desk space, information about the job role, organizational reporting structures) to do their jobs. However, sometimes the institutional structures and resources are insufficient or ambiguous. Scholars and practitioners have identified several preventative stress management strategies that may be implemented.

Planning and Time Management

When employees feel quantitatively overloaded, sometimes the remedy is improving the employees’ abilities to plan and manage their time (Quick, Quick, Nelson, & Hurrell, 2003 ). Planning is a future-oriented activity that focuses on conceptual and comprehensive work goals. Time management is a behavior that focuses on organizing, prioritizing, and scheduling work activities to achieve short-term goals. Given the purpose of time management, it is considered a primary intervention, as engaging in time management helps to prevent work tasks from mounting and becoming unmanageable, which would subsequently lead to adverse outcomes. Time management comprises three fundamental components: (1) establishing goals, (2) identifying and prioritizing tasks to fulfill the goals, and (3) scheduling and monitoring progress toward goal achievement (Peeters & Rutte, 2005 ). Workers who employ time management have less role ambiguity (Macan, Shahani, Dipboye, & Philips, 1990 ), psychological stress or strain (Adams & Jex, 1999 ; Jex & Elaqua, 1999 ; Macan et al., 1990 ), and greater job satisfaction (Macan, 1994 ). However, Macan ( 1994 ) did not find a relationship between time management and performance. Still, Claessens, van Eerde, Rutte, and Roe ( 2004 ) found that perceived control of time partially mediated the relationships between planning behavior (an indicator of time management), job autonomy, and workload on one hand, and job strains, job satisfaction, and job performance on the other hand. Moreover, Peeters and Rutte ( 2005 ) observed that teachers with high work demands and low autonomy experienced more burnout when they had poor time management skills.

Person-Organization Fit

Just as it is important for organizations to find the right person for the job and organization, so is it the responsibility of a person to choose to work at the right organization—an organization that fulfills the person’s needs and upholds the values important to the individual, as much as the person fulfills the organization’s needs and adapts to its values. When people fit their employing organizations they are setting themselves up for experiencing less strain-producing stressors (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005 ). In a meta-analysis of 62 person-job fit studies and 110 person-organization fit studies, Kristof-Brown et al. ( 2005 ) found that person-job fit had a negative correlation with indicators of job strain. In fact, a primary intervention of career counseling can help to reduce stress levels (Firth-Cozens, 2003 ).

Job Redesign

The Job Demands-Control/Support (JD-C/S), Job Demands-Resources (JD-R), and transactional models all suggest that factors in the work context require modifications in order to reduce potential ill-health and poor organizational performance. Drawing on Hackman and Oldham’s ( 1980 ) Job Characteristics Model, it is possible to assess with the Job Diagnostics Survey (JDS) the current state of work characteristics related to skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Modifying those aspects would help create a sense of meaningfulness, sense of responsibility, and feeling of knowing how one is performing, which subsequently affects a person’s well-being as identified in assessments of motivation, satisfaction, improved performance, and reduced withdrawal intentions and behaviors. Extending this argument to the stress models, it can be deduced that reducing uncertainty or perceived unfairness that may be associated with a person’s perception of these work characteristics, as well as making changes to physical characteristics of the environment (e.g., lighting, seating, desk, air quality), nature of work (e.g., job responsibilities, roles, decision-making latitude), and organizational arrangements (e.g., reporting structure and feedback mechanisms), can help mitigate against numerous ill-health consequences and reduced organizational performance. In fact, Fried et al. ( 2013 ) showed that healthy patients of a medical clinic whose jobs were excessively low (i.e., monotonous) or excessively high (i.e., overstimulating) on job enrichment (as measured by the JDS) had greater abdominal obesity than those whose jobs were optimally enriched. By taking stock of employees’ perceptions of the current work situation, managers might think about ways to enhance employees’ coping toolkit, such as training on how to deal with difficult clients or creating stimulating opportunities when jobs have low levels of enrichment.

Participatory Action Research Interventions

Participatory action research (PAR) is an intervention wherein, through group discussions, employees help to identify and define problems in organizational structure, processes, policies, practices, and reward structures, as well as help to design, implement, and evaluate success of solutions. PAR is in itself an intervention, but its goal is to design interventions to eliminate or reduce work-related factors that are impeding performance and causing people to be unwell. An example of a successful primary intervention, utilizing principles of PAR and driven by the JD-C and JD-C/S stress frameworks is Health Circles (HCs; Aust & Ducki, 2004 ).

HCs, developed in Germany in the 1980s, were popular practices in industries, such as metal, steel, and chemical, and service. Similar to other problem-solving practices, such as quality circles, HCs were based on the assumptions that employees are the experts of their jobs. For this reason, to promote employee well-being, management and administrators solicited suggestions and ideas from the employees to improve occupational health, thereby increasing employees’ job control. HCs also promoted communication between managers and employees, which had a potential to increase social support. With more control and support, employees would experience less strains and better occupational well-being.

Employing the three-steps of (1) problem analysis (i.e., diagnosis or discovery through data generated from organizational records of absenteeism length, frequency, rate, and reason and employee survey), (2) HC meetings (6 to 10 meetings held over several months to brainstorm ideas to improve occupational safety and health concerns identified in the discovery phase), and (3) HC evaluation (to determine if desired changes were accomplished and if employees’ reports of stressors and strains changed after the course of 15 months), improvements were to be expected (Aust & Ducki, 2004 ). Aust and Ducki ( 2004 ) reviewed 11 studies presenting 81 health circles in 30 different organizations. Overall study participants had high satisfaction with the HCs practices. Most companies acted upon employees’ suggestions (e.g., improving driver’s seat and cab, reducing ticket sale during drive, team restructuring and job rotation to facilitate communication, hiring more employees during summer time, and supervisor training program to improve leadership and communication skills) to improve work conditions. Thus, HCs represent a successful theory-grounded intervention to routinely improve employees’ occupational health.

Physical Setting

The physical environment or physical workspace has an enormous impact on individuals’ well-being, attitudes, and interactions with others, as well as on the implications on innovation and well-being (Oksanen & Ståhle, 2013 ; Vischer, 2007 ). In a study of 74 new product development teams (total of 437 study respondents) in Western Europe, Chong, van Eerde, Rutte, and Chai ( 2012 ) found that when teams were faced with challenge time pressures, meaning the teams had a strong interest and desire in tackling complex, but engaging tasks, when they were working proximally close with one another, team communication improved. Chong et al. assert that their finding aligns with prior studies that have shown that physical proximity promotes increased awareness of other team members, greater tendency to initiate conversations, and greater team identification. However, they also found that when faced with hindrance time pressures, physical proximity related to low levels of team communication, but when hindrance time pressure was low, team proximity had an increasingly greater positive relationship with team communication.

In addition to considering the type of work demand teams must address, other physical workspace considerations include whether people need to work collaboratively and synchronously or independently and remotely (or a combination thereof). Consideration needs to be given to how company contributors would satisfy client needs through various modes of communication, such as email vs. telephone, and whether individuals who work by a window might need shading to block bright sunlight from glaring on their computer screens. Finally, people who have to use the telephone for extensive periods of time would benefit from earphones to prevent neck strains. Most physical stressors are rather simple to rectify. However, companies are often not aware of a problem until after a problem arises, such as when a person’s back is strained from trying to move heavy equipment. Companies then implement strategies to remediate the environmental stressor. With the help of human factors, and organizational and office design consultants, many of the physical barriers to optimal performance can be prevented (Rousseau & Aubé, 2010 ). In a study of 215 French-speaking Canadian healthcare employees, Rousseau and Aubé ( 2010 ) found that although supervisor instrumental support positively related with affective commitment to the organization, the relationship was even stronger for those who reported satisfaction with the ambient environment (i.e., temperature, lighting, sound, ventilation, and cleanliness).

Secondary Interventions (Coping)

Secondary interventions, also referred to as coping, focus on resources people can use to mitigate the risk of work-related illness or workplace injury. Resources may include properties related to social resources, behaviors, and cognitive structures. Each of these resource domains may be employed to cope with stressors. Monat and Lazarus ( 1991 ) summarize the definition of coping as “an individual’s efforts to master demands (or conditions of harm, threat, or challenge) that are appraised (or perceived) as exceeding or taxing his or her resources” (p. 5). To master demands requires use of the aforementioned resources. Secondary interventions help employees become aware of the psychological, physical, and behavioral responses that may occur from the stressors presented in their working environment. Secondary interventions help a person detect and attend to stressors and identify resources for and ways of mitigating job strains. Often, coping strategies are learned skills that have a cognitive foundation and serve important functions in improving people’s management of stressors (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 ). Coping is effortful, but with practice it becomes easier to employ. This idea is the foundation for understanding the role of resilience in coping with stressors. However, “not all adaptive processes are coping. Coping is a subset of adaptational activities that involves effort and does not include everything that we do in relating to the environment” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 , p. 198). Furthermore, sometimes to cope with a stressor, a person may call upon social support sources to help with tangible materials or emotional comfort. People call upon support resources because they help to restructure how a person approaches or thinks about the stressor.

Most secondary interventions are aimed at helping the individual, though companies, as a policy, might require all employees to partake in training aimed at increasing employees’ awareness of and skills aimed at handling difficult situations vis à vis company channels (e.g., reporting on sexual harassment or discrimination). Furthermore, organizations might institute mentoring programs or work groups to address various work-related matters. These programs employ awareness-raising activities, stress-education, or skills training (cf., Bhagat, Segovis, & Nelson, 2012 ), which include development of skills in problem-solving, understanding emotion-focused coping, identifying and using social support, and enhancing capacity for resilience. The aim of these programs, therefore, is to help employees proactively review their perceptions of psychological, physical, and behavioral job-related strains, thereby extending their resilience, enabling them to form a personal plan to control stressors and practice coping skills (Cooper, Dewe, & O’Driscoll, 2011 ).

Often these stress management programs are instituted after an organization has observed excessive absenteeism and work-related performance problems and, therefore, are sometimes categorized as a tertiary stress management intervention or even a primary (prevention) intervention. However, the skills developed for coping with stressors also place the programs in secondary stress management interventions. Example programs that are categorized as tertiary or primary stress management interventions may also be secondary stress management interventions (see Figure 1 ), and these include lifestyle advice and planning, stress inoculation training, simple relaxation techniques, meditation, basic trainings in time management, anger management, problem-solving skills, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Corporate wellness programs also fall under this category. In other words, some programs could be categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary interventions depending upon when the employee (or organization) identifies the need to implement the program. For example, time management practices could be implemented as a means of preventing some stressors, as a way to cope with mounting stressors, or as a strategy to mitigate symptoms of excessive of stressors. Furthermore, these programs can be administered at the individual level or group level. As related to secondary interventions, these programs provide participants with opportunities to develop and practice skills to cognitively reappraise the stressor(s); to modify their perspectives about stressors; to take time out to breathe, stretch, meditate, relax, and/or exercise in an attempt to support better decision-making; to articulate concerns and call upon support resources; and to know how to say “no” to onslaughts of requests to complete tasks. Participants also learn how to proactively identify coping resources and solve problems.

According to Cooper, Dewe, and O’Driscoll ( 2001 ), secondary interventions are successful in helping employees modify or strengthen their ability to cope with the experience of stressors with the goal of mitigating the potential harm the job stressors may create. Secondary interventions focus on individuals’ transactions with the work environment and emphasize the fit between a person and his or her environment. However, researchers have pointed out that the underlying assumption of secondary interventions is that the responsibility for coping with the stressors of the environment lies within individuals (Quillian-Wolever & Wolever, 2003 ). If companies cannot prevent the stressors in the first place, then they are, in part, responsible for helping individuals develop coping strategies and informing employees about programs that would help them better cope with job stressors so that they are able to fulfill work assignments.

Stress management interventions that help people learn to cope with stressors focus mainly on the goals of enabling problem-resolution or expressing one’s emotions in a healthy manner. These goals are referred to as problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980 ; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978 ), and the person experiencing the stressors as potential threat is the agent for change and the recipient of the benefits of successful coping (Hobfoll, 1998 ). In addition to problem-focused and emotion-focused coping approaches, social support and resilience may be coping resources. There are many other sources for coping than there is room to present here (see e.g., Cartwright & Cooper, 2005 ); however, the current literature has primarily focused on these resources.

Problem-Focused Coping

Problem-focused or direct coping helps employees remove or reduce stressors in order to reduce their strain experiences (Bhagat et al., 2012 ). In problem-focused coping employees are responsible for working out a strategic plan in order to remove job stressors, such as setting up a set of goals and engaging in behaviors to meet these goals. Problem-focused coping is viewed as an adaptive response, though it can also be maladaptive if it creates more problems down the road, such as procrastinating getting work done or feigning illness to take time off from work. Adaptive problem-focused coping negatively relates to long-term job strains (Higgins & Endler, 1995 ). Discussion on problem-solving coping is framed from an adaptive perspective.

Problem-focused coping is featured as an extension of control, because engaging in problem-focused coping strategies requires a series of acts to keep job stressors under control (Bhagat et al., 2012 ). In the stress literature, there are generally two ways to categorize control: internal versus external locus of control, and primary versus secondary control. Locus of control refers to the extent to which people believe they have control over their own life (Rotter, 1966 ). People high in internal locus of control believe that they can control their own fate whereas people high in external locus of control believe that outside factors determine their life experience (Rotter, 1966 ). Generally, those with an external locus of control are less inclined to engage in problem-focused coping (Strentz & Auerbach, 1988 ). Primary control is the belief that people can directly influence their environment (Alloy & Abramson, 1979 ), and thus they are more likely to engage in problem-focused coping. However, when it is not feasible to exercise primary control, people search for secondary control, with which people try to adapt themselves into the objective environment (Rothbaum, Weisz, & Snyder, 1982 ).

Emotion-Focused Coping

Emotion-focused coping, sometimes referred to as palliative coping, helps employees reduce strains without the removal of job stressors. It involves cognitive or emotional efforts, such as talking about the stressor or distracting oneself from the stressor, in order to lessen emotional distress resulting from job stressors (Bhagat et al., 2012 ). Emotion-focused coping aims to reappraise and modify the perceptions of a situation or seek emotional support from friends or family. These methods do not include efforts to change the work situation or to remove the job stressors (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 ). People tend to adopt emotion-focused coping strategies when they believe that little or nothing can be done to remove the threatening, harmful, and challenging stressors (Bhagat et al., 2012 ), such as when they are the only individuals to have the skills to get a project done or they are given increased responsibilities because of the unexpected departure of a colleague. Emotion-focused coping strategies include (1) reappraisal of the stressful situation, (2) talking to friends and receiving reassurance from them, (3) focusing on one’s strength rather than weakness, (4) optimistic comparison—comparing one’s situation to others’ or one’s past situation, (5) selective ignoring—paying less attention to the unpleasant aspects of one’s job and being more focused on the positive aspects of the job, (6) restrictive expectations—restricting one’s expectations on job satisfaction but paying more attention to monetary rewards, (7) avoidance coping—not thinking about the problem, leaving the situation, distracting oneself, or using alcohol or drugs (e.g., Billings & Moos, 1981 ).

Some emotion-focused coping strategies are maladaptive. For example, avoidance coping may lead to increased level of job strains in the long run (e.g., Parasuraman & Cleek, 1984 ). Furthermore, a person’s ability to cope with the imbalance of performing work to meet organizational expectations can take a toll on the person’s health, leading to physiological consequences such as cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, and diabetes (Fried et al., 2013 ; Siegrist, 2010 ; Toker, Shirom, Melamed, & Armon, 2012 ; Willert, Thulstrup, Hertz, & Bonde, 2010 ).

Comparing Coping Strategies across Cultures

Most coping research is conducted in individualistic, Western cultures wherein emotional control is emphasized and both problem-solving focused coping and primary control are preferred (Bhagat et al., 2010 ). However, in collectivistic cultures, emotion-focused coping and use of secondary control may be preferred and may not necessarily carry a negative evaluation (Bhagat et al., 2010 ). For example, African Americans are more likely to use emotion-focused coping than non–African Americans (Knight, Silverstein, McCallum, & Fox, 2000 ), and among women who experienced sexual harassment, Anglo American women were less likely to employ emotion focused coping (i.e., avoidance coping) than Turkish women and Hispanic American women, while Hispanic women used more denial than the other two groups (Wasti & Cortina, 2002 ).

Thus, whereas problem-focused coping is venerated in Western societies, emotion-focused coping may be more effective in reducing strains in collectivistic cultures, such as China, Japan, and India (Bhagat et al., 2010 ; Narayanan, Menon, & Spector, 1999 ; Selmer, 2002 ). Indeed, Swedish participants reported more problem-focused coping than did Chinese participants (Xiao, Ottosson, & Carlsson, 2013 ), American college students engaged in more problem-focused coping behaviors than did their Japanese counterparts (Ogawa, 2009 ), and Indian (vs. Canadian) students reported more emotion-focused coping, such as seeking social support and positive reappraisal (Sinha, Willson, & Watson, 2000 ). Moreover, Glazer, Stetz, and Izso ( 2004 ) found that internal locus of control was more predominant in individualistic cultures (United Kingdom and United States), whereas external locus of control was more predominant in communal cultures (Italy and Hungary). Also, internal locus of control was associated with less job stress, but more so for nurses in the United Kingdom and United States than Italy and Hungary. Taken together, adoption of coping strategies and their effectiveness differ significantly across cultures. The extent to which a coping strategy is perceived favorably and thus selected or not selected is not only a function of culture, but also a person’s sociocultural beliefs toward the coping strategy (Morimoto, Shimada, & Ozaki, 2013 ).

Social Support

Social support refers to the aid an entity gives to a person. The source of the support can be a single person, such as a supervisor, coworker, subordinate, family member, friend, or stranger, or an organization as represented by upper-level management representing organizational practices. The type of support can be instrumental or emotional. Instrumental support, including informational support, refers to that which is tangible, such as data to help someone make a decision or colleagues’ sick days so one does not lose vital pay while recovering from illness. Emotional support, including esteem support, refers to the psychological boost given to a person who needs to express emotions and feel empathy from others or to have his or her perspective validated. Beehr and Glazer ( 2001 ) present an overview of the role of social support on the stressor-strain relationship and arguments regarding the role of culture in shaping the utility of different sources and types of support.

Meaningfulness and Resilience

Meaningfulness reflects the extent to which people believe their lives are significant, purposeful, goal-directed, and fulfilling (Glazer, Kożusznik, Meyers, & Ganai, 2014 ). When faced with stressors, people who have a strong sense of meaning in life will also try to make sense of the stressors. Maintaining a positive outlook on life stressors helps to manage emotions, which is helpful in reducing strains, particularly when some stressors cannot be problem-solved (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 ). Lazarus and Folkman ( 1991 ) emphasize that being able to reframe threatening situations can be just as important in an adaptation as efforts to control the stressors. Having a sense of meaningfulness motivates people to behave in ways that help them overcome stressors. Thus, meaningfulness is often used in the same breath as resilience, because people who are resilient are often protecting that which is meaningful.

Resilience is a personality state that can be fortified and enhanced through varied experiences. People who perceive their lives are meaningful are more likely to find ways to face adversity and are therefore more prone to intensifying their resiliency. When people demonstrate resilience to cope with noxious stressors, their ability to be resilient against other stressors strengthens because through the experience, they develop more competencies (Glazer et al., 2014 ). Thus, fitting with Hobfoll’s ( 1989 , 2001 ) COR theory, meaningfulness and resilience are psychological resources people attempt to conserve and protect, and employ when necessary for making sense of or coping with stressors.

Tertiary Interventions (Stress Management)

Stress management refers to interventions employed to treat and repair harmful repercussions of stressors that were not coped with sufficiently. As Lazarus and Folkman ( 1991 ) noted, not all stressors “are amenable to mastery” (p. 205). Stressors that are unmanageable and lead to strains require interventions to reverse or slow down those effects. Workplace interventions might focus on the person, the organization, or both. Unfortunately, instead of looking at the whole system to include the person and the workplace, most companies focus on the person. Such a focus should not be a surprise given the results of van der Klink, Blonk, Schene, and van Dijk’s ( 2001 ) meta-analysis of 48 experimental studies conducted between 1977 and 1996 . They found that of four types of tertiary interventions, the effect size for cognitive-behavioral interventions and multimodal programs (e.g., the combination of assertive training and time management) was moderate and the effect size for relaxation techniques was small in reducing psychological complaints, but not turnover intention related to work stress. However, the effects of (the five studies that used) organization-focused interventions were not significant. Similarly, Richardson and Rothstein’s ( 2008 ) meta-analytic study, including 36 experimental studies with 55 interventions, showed a larger effect size for cognitive-behavioral interventions than relaxation, organizational, multimodal, or alternative. However, like with van der Klink et al. ( 2001 ), Richardson and Rothstein ( 2008 ) cautioned that there were few organizational intervention studies included and the impact of interventions were determined on the basis of psychological outcomes and not physiological or organizational outcomes. Van der Klink et al. ( 2001 ) further expressed concern that organizational interventions target the workplace and that changes in the individual may take longer to observe than individual interventions aimed directly at the individual.

The long-term benefits of individual focused interventions are not yet clear either. Per Giga, Cooper, and Faragher ( 2003 ), the benefits of person-directed stress management programs will be short-lived if organizational factors to reduce stressors are not addressed too. Indeed, LaMontagne, Keegel, Louie, Ostry, and Landsbergis ( 2007 ), in their meta-analysis of 90 studies on stress management interventions published between 1990 and 2005 , revealed that in relation to interventions targeting organizations only, and interventions targeting individuals only, interventions targeting both organizations and individuals (i.e. the systems approach) had the most favorable positive effects on both the organizations and the individuals. Furthermore, the organization-level interventions were effective at both the individual and organization levels, but the individual-level interventions were effective only at the individual level.

Individual-Focused Stress Management

Individual-focused interventions concentrate on improving conditions for the individual, though counseling programs emphasize that the worker is in charge of reducing “stress,” whereas role-focused interventions emphasize activities that organizations can guide to actually reduce unnecessary noxious environmental factors.

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Employee Assistance Programs

When stress become sufficiently problematic (which is individually gauged or attended to by supportive others) in a worker’s life, employees may utilize the short-term counseling services or referral services Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) provide. People who utilize the counseling services may engage in cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at changing the way people think about the stressors (e.g., as challenge opportunity over threat) and manage strains. Example topics that may be covered in these therapy sessions include time management and goal setting (prioritization), career planning and development, cognitive restructuring and mindfulness, relaxation, and anger management. In a study of healthcare workers and teachers who participated in a 2-day to 2.5-day comprehensive stress management training program (including 26 topics on identifying, coping with, and managing stressors and strains), Siu, Cooper, and Phillips ( 2013 ) found psychological and physical improvements were self-reported among the healthcare workers (for which there was no control group). However, comparing an intervention group of teachers to a control group of teachers, the extent of change was not as visible, though teachers in the intervention group engaged in more mastery recovery experiences (i.e., they purposefully chose to engage in challenging activities after work).

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Mindfulness

A popular therapy today is to train people to be more mindful, which involves helping people live in the present, reduce negative judgement of current and past experiences, and practicing patience (Birnie, Speca, & Carlson, 2010 ). Mindfulness programs usually include training on relaxation exercises, gentle yoga, and awareness of the body’s senses. In one study offered through the continuing education program at a Canadian university, 104 study participants took part in an 8-week, 90 minute per group (15–20 participants per) session mindfulness program (Birnie et al., 2010 ). In addition to body scanning, they also listened to lectures on incorporating mindfulness into one’s daily life and received a take-home booklet and compact discs that guided participants through the exercises studied in person. Two weeks after completing the program, participants’ mindfulness attendance and general positive moods increased, while physical, psychological, and behavioral strains decreased. In another study on a sample of U.K. government employees, study participants receiving three sessions of 2.5 to 3 hours each training on mindfulness, with the first two sessions occurring in consecutive weeks and the third occurring about three months later, Flaxman and Bond ( 2010 ) found that compared to the control group, the intervention group showed a decrease in distress levels from Time 1 (baseline) to Time 2 (three months after first two training sessions) and Time 1 to Time 3 (after final training session). Moreover, of the mindfulness intervention study participants who were clinically distressed, 69% experienced clinical improvement in their psychological health.

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Biofeedback/Imagery/Meditation/Deep Breathing

Biofeedback uses electronic equipment to inform users about how their body is responding to tension. With guidance from a therapist, individuals then learn to change their physiological responses so that their pulse normalizes and muscles relax (Norris, Fahrion, & Oikawa, 2007 ). The therapist’s guidance might include reminders for imagery, meditation, body scan relaxation, and deep breathing. Saunders, Driskell, Johnston, and Salas’s ( 1996 ) meta-analysis of 37 studies found that imagery helped reduce state and performance anxiety. Once people have been trained to relax, reminder triggers may be sent through smartphone push notifications (Villani et al., 2013 ).

Smartphone technology can also be used to support weight loss programs, smoking cessation programs, and medication or disease (e.g., diabetes) management compliance (Heron & Smyth, 2010 ; Kannampallil, Waicekauskas, Morrow, Kopren, & Fu, 2013 ). For example, smartphones could remind a person to take medications or test blood sugar levels or send messages about healthy behaviors and positive affirmations.

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Sleep/Rest/Respite

Workers today sleep less per night than adults did nearly 30 years ago (Luckhaupt, Tak, & Calvert, 2010 ; National Sleep Foundation, 2005 , 2013 ). In order to combat problems, such as increased anxiety and cardiovascular artery disease, associated with sleep deprivation and insufficient rest, it is imperative that people disconnect from their work at least one day per week or preferably for several weeks so that they are able to restore psychological health (Etzion, Eden, & Lapidot, 1998 ; Ragsdale, Beehr, Grebner, & Han, 2011 ). When college students engaged in relaxation-type activities, such as reading or watching television, over the weekend, they experienced less emotional exhaustion and greater general well-being than students who engaged in resources-consuming activities, such as house cleaning (Ragsdale et al., 2011 ). Additional research and future directions for research are reviewed and identified in the work of Sonnentag ( 2012 ). For example, she asks whether lack of ability to detach from work is problematic for people who find their work meaningful. In other words, are negative health consequences only among those who do not take pleasure in their work? Sonnetag also asks how teleworkers detach from their work when engaging in work from the home. Ironically, one of the ways that companies are trying to help with the challenges of high workload or increased need to be available to colleagues, clients, or vendors around the globe is by offering flexible work arrangements, whereby employees who can work from home are given the opportunity to do so. Companies that require global interactions 24-hours per day often employ this strategy, but is the solution also a source of strain (Glazer, Kożusznik, & Shargo, 2012 )?

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Role Analysis

Role analysis or role clarification aims to redefine, expressly identify, and align employees’ roles and responsibilities with their work goals. Through role negotiation, involved parties begin to develop a new formal or informal contract about expectations and define resources needed to fulfill those expectations. Glazer has used this approach in organizational consulting and, with one memorable client engagement, found that not only were the individuals whose roles required deeper re-evaluation happier at work (six months later), but so were their subordinates. Subordinates who once characterized the two partners as hostile and akin to a couple going through a bad divorce, later referred to them as a blissful pair. Schaubroeck, Ganster, Sime, and Ditman ( 1993 ) also found in a three-wave study over a two-year period that university employees’ reports of role clarity and greater satisfaction with their supervisor increased after a role clarification exercise of top managers’ roles and subordinates’ roles. However, the intervention did not have any impact on reported physical symptoms, absenteeism, or psychological well-being. Role analysis is categorized under individual-focused stress management intervention because it is usually implemented after individuals or teams begin to demonstrate poor performance and because the intervention typically focuses on a few individuals rather than an entire organization or group. In other words, the intervention treats the person’s symptoms by redefining the role so as to eliminate the stimulant causing the problem.

Organization-Focused Stress Management

At the organizational level, companies that face major declines in productivity and profitability or increased costs related to healthcare and disability might be motivated to reassess organizational factors that might be impinging on employees’ health and well-being. After all, without healthy workers, it is not possible to have a healthy organization. Companies may choose to implement practices and policies that are expected to help not only the employees, but also the organization with reduced costs associated with employee ill-health, such as medical insurance, disability payments, and unused office space. Example practices and policies that may be implemented include flexible work arrangements to ensure that employees are not on the streets in the middle of the night for work that can be done from anywhere (such as the home), diversity programs to reduce stress-induced animosity and prejudice toward others, providing only healthy food choices in cafeterias, mandating that all employees have physicals in order to receive reduced prices for insurance, company-wide closures or mandatory paid time off, and changes in organizational visioning.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Organizational-Level Occupational Health Interventions

As with job design interventions that are implemented to remediate work characteristics that were a source of unnecessary or excessive stressors, so are organizational-level occupational health (OLOH) interventions. As with many of the interventions, its placement as a primary or tertiary stress management intervention may seem arbitrary, but when considering the goal and target of change, it is clear that the intervention is implemented in response to some ailing organizational issues that need to be reversed or stopped, and because it brings in the entire organization’s workforce to address the problems, it has been placed in this category. There are several more case studies than empirical studies on the topic of whole system organizational change efforts (see example case studies presented by the United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Executive). It is possible that lack of published empirical work is not so much due to lack of attempting to gather and evaluate the data for publication, but rather because the OLOH interventions themselves never made it to the intervention stage, the interventions failed (Biron, Gatrell, & Cooper, 2010 ), or the level of evaluation was not rigorous enough to get into empirical peer-review journals. Fortunately, case studies provide some indication of the opportunities and problems associated with OLOH interventions.

One case study regarding Cardiff and Value University Health Board revealed that through focus group meetings with members of a steering group (including high-level managers and supported by top management) and facilitated by a neutral, non-judgemental organizational health consultant, ideas for change were posted on newsprint, discussed, and areas in the organization needing change were identified. The intervention for giving voice to people who initially had little already had a positive effect on the organization, as absence decreased by 2.09% and 6.9% merely 12 and 18 months, respectively, after the intervention. Translated in financial terms, the 6.9% change was equivalent to a quarterly savings of £80,000 (Health & Safety Executive, n.d. ). Thus, focusing on the context of change and how people will be involved in the change process probably helped the organization realize improvements (Biron et al., 2010 ). In a recent and rare empirical study, employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, Sørensen and Holman ( 2014 ) utilized PAR in order to plan and implement an OLOH intervention over the course of 14 months. Their study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the PAR process in reducing workers’ work-related and social or interpersonal-related stressors that derive from the workplace and improving psychological, behavioral, and physiological well-being across six Danish organizations. Based on group dialogue, 30 proposals for change were proposed, all of which could be categorized as either interventions to focus on relational factors (e.g., management feedback improvement, engagement) or work processes (e.g., reduced interruptions, workload, reinforcing creativity). Of the interventions that were implemented, results showed improvements on manager relationship quality and reduced burnout, but no changes with respect to work processes (i.e., workload and work pace) perhaps because the employees already had sufficient task control and variety. These findings support Dewe and Kompier’s ( 2008 ) position that occupational health can be reinforced through organizational policies that reinforce quality jobs and work experiences.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Flexible Work Arrangements

Dewe and Kompier ( 2008 ), citing the work of Isles ( 2005 ), noted that concern over losing one’s job is a reason for why 40% of survey respondents indicated they work more hours than formally required. In an attempt to create balance and perceived fairness in one’s compensation for putting in extra work hours, employees will sometimes be legitimately or illegitimately absent. As companies become increasingly global, many people with desk jobs are finding themselves communicating with colleagues who are halfway around the globe and at all hours of the day or night (Glazer et al., 2012 ). To help minimize the strains associated with these stressors, companies might devise flexible work arrangements (FWA), though the type of FWA needs to be tailored to the cultural environment (Masuda et al., 2012 ). FWAs give employees some leverage to decide what would be the optimal work arrangement for them (e.g., part-time, flexible work hours, compressed work week, telecommuting). In other words, FWA provides employees with the choice of when to work, where to work (on-site or off-site), and how many hours to work in a day, week, or pay period (Kossek, Thompson, & Lautsch, 2015 ). However, not all employees of an organization have equal access to or equitable use of FWAs; workers in low-wage, hourly jobs are often beholden to being physically present during specific hours (Swanberg McKechnie, Ojha, & James, 2011 ). In a study of over 1,300 full-time hourly retail employees in the United States, Swanberg et al. ( 2011 ) showed that employees who have control over their work schedules and over their work hours were satisfied with their work schedules, perceived support from the supervisor, and work engagement.

Unfortunately, not all FWAs yield successful results for the individual or the organization. Being able to work from home or part-time can have problems too, as a person finds himself or herself working more hours from home than required. Sometimes telecommuting creates work-family conflict too as a person struggles to balance work and family obligations while working from home. Other drawbacks include reduced face-to-face contact between work colleagues and stakeholders, challenges shaping one’s career growth due to limited contact, perceived inequity if some have more flexibility than others, and ambiguity about work role processes for interacting with employees utilizing the FWA (Kossek et al., 2015 ). Organizations that institute FWAs must carefully weigh the benefits and drawbacks the flexibility may have on the employees using it or the employees affected by others using it, as well as the implications on the organization, including the vendors who are serving and clients served by the organization.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Diversity Programs

Employees in the workplace might experience strain due to feelings of discrimination or prejudice. Organizational climates that do not promote diversity (in terms of age, religion, physical abilities, ethnicity, nationality, sex, and other characteristics) are breeding grounds for undesirable attitudes toward the workplace, lower performance, and greater turnover intention (Bergman, Palmieri, Drasgow, & Ormerod, 2012 ; Velez, Moradi, & Brewster, 2013 ). Management is thus advised to implement programs that reinforce the value and importance of diversity, as well as manage diversity to reduce conflict and feelings of prejudice. In fact, managers who attended a leadership training program reported higher multicultural competence in dealing with stressful situations (Chrobot-Mason & Leslie, 2012 ), and managers who persevered through challenges were more dedicated to coping with difficult diversity issues (Cilliers, 2011 ). Thus, diversity programs can help to reduce strains by directly reducing stressors associated with conflict linked to diversity in the workplace and by building managers’ resilience.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Healthcare Management Policies

Over the past few years, organizations have adopted insurance plans that implement wellness programs for the sake of managing the increasing cost of healthcare that is believed to be a result of individuals’ not managing their own health, with regular check-ups and treatment. The wellness programs require all insured employees to visit a primary care provider, complete a health risk assessment, and engage in disease management activities as specified by a physician (e.g., see frequently asked questions regarding the State of Maryland’s Wellness Program). Companies believe that requiring compliance will reduce health problems, although there is no proof that such programs save money or that people would comply. One study that does, however, boast success, was a 12-week workplace health promotion program aimed at reducing Houston airport workers’ weight (Ebunlomo, Hare-Everline, Weber, & Rich, 2015 ). The program, which included 235 volunteer participants, was deemed a success, as there was a total weight loss of 345 pounds (or 1.5 lbs per person). Given such results in Houston, it is clear why some people are also skeptical over the likely success of wellness programs, particularly as there is no clear method for evaluating their efficacy (Sinnott & Vatz, 2015 ).

Moreover, for some, such a program is too paternalistic and intrusive, as well as punishes anyone who chooses not to actively participate in disease management programs (Sinnott & Vatz, 2015 ). The programs put the onus of change on the person, though it is a response to the high costs of ill-health. The programs neglect to consider the role of the organization in reducing the barriers to healthy lifestyle, such as cloaking exempt employment as simply needing to get the work done, when it usually means working significantly more hours than a standard workweek. In fact, workplace health promotion programs did not reduce presenteeism (i.e., people going to work while unwell thereby reducing their job performance) among those who suffered from physical pain (Cancelliere, Cassidy, Ammendolia, & Côte, 2011 ). However, supervisor education, worksite exercise, lifestyle intervention through email, midday respite from repetitive work, a global stress management program, changes in lighting, and telephone interventions helped to reduce presenteeism. Thus, emphasis needs to be placed on psychosocial aspects of the organization’s structure, including managers and overall organizational climate for on-site presence, that reinforces such behavior (Cancelliere et al., 2011 ). Moreover, wellness programs are only as good as the interventions to reduce work-related stressors and improve organizational resources to enable workers to improve their overall psychological and physical health.

Concluding Remarks

Future research.

One of the areas requiring more theoretical and practical attention is that of the utility of stress frameworks to guide organizational development change interventions. Although it has been proposed that the foundation for work stress management interventions is in organizational development, and even though scholars and practitioners of organization development were also founders of research programs that focused on employee health and well-being or work stress, there are few studies or other theoretical works that link the two bodies of literature.

A second area that requires additional attention is the efficacy of stress management interventions across cultures. In examining secondary stress management interventions (i.e., coping), some cross-cultural differences in findings were described; however, there is still a dearth of literature from different countries on the utility of different prevention, coping, and stress management strategies.

A third area that has been blossoming since the start of the 21st century is the topic of hindrance and challenge stressors and the implications of both on workers’ well-being and performance. More research is needed on this topic in several areas. First, there is little consistency by which researchers label a stressor as a hindrance or a challenge. Researchers sometimes take liberties with labels, but it is not the researchers who should label a stressor but the study participants themselves who should indicate if a stressor is a source of strain. Rodríguez, Kozusznik, and Peiró ( 2013 ) developed a measure in which respondents indicate whether a stressor is a challenge or a hindrance. Just as some people may perceive demands to be challenges that they savor and that result in a psychological state of eustress (Nelson & Simmons, 2003 ), others find them to be constraints that impede goal fulfillment and thus might experience distress. Likewise, some people might perceive ambiguity as a challenge that can be overcome and others as a constraint over which he or she has little control and few or no resources with which to cope. More research on validating the measurement of challenge vs. hindrance stressors, as well as eustress vs. distress, and savoring vs. coping, is warranted. Second, at what point are challenge stressors harmful? Just because people experiencing challenge stressors continue to perform well, it does not necessarily mean that they are healthy people. A great deal of stressors are intellectually stimulating, but excessive stimulation can also take a toll on one’s physiological well-being, as evident by the droves of professionals experiencing different kinds of diseases not experienced as much a few decades ago, such as obesity (Fried et al., 2013 ). Third, which stress management interventions would better serve to reduce hindrance stressors or to reduce strain that may result from challenge stressors while reinforcing engagement-producing challenge stressors?

A fourth area that requires additional attention is that of the flexible work arrangements (FWAs). One of the reasons companies have been willing to permit employees to work from home is not so much out of concern for the employee, but out of the company’s need for the focal person to be able to communicate with a colleague working from a geographic region when it is night or early morning for the focal person. Glazer, Kożusznik, and Shargo ( 2012 ) presented several areas for future research on this topic, noting that by participating on global virtual teams, workers face additional stressors, even while given flexibility of workplace and work time. As noted earlier, more research needs to be done on the extent to which people who take advantage of FWAs are advantaged in terms of detachment from work. Can people working from home detach? Are those who find their work invigorating also likely to experience ill-health by not detaching from work?

A fifth area worthy of further research attention is workplace wellness programing. According to Page and Vella-Brodrick ( 2009 ), “subjective and psychological well-being [are] key criteria for employee mental health” (p. 442), whereby mental health focuses on wellness, rather than the absence of illness. They assert that by fostering employee mental health, organizations are supporting performance and retention. Employee well-being can be supported by ensuring that jobs are interesting and meaningful, goals are achievable, employees have control over their work, and skills are used to support organizational and individual goals (Dewe & Kompier, 2008 ). However, just as mental health is not the absence of illness, work stress is not indicative of an absence of psychological well-being. Given the perspective that employee well-being is a state of mind (Page & Vella-Brodrick, 2009 ), we suggest that employee well-being can be negatively affected by noxious job stressors that cannot be remediated, but when job stressors are preventable, employee well-being can serve to protect an employee who faces job stressors. Thus, wellness programs ought to focus on providing positive experiences by enhancing and promoting health, as well as building individual resources. These programs are termed “green cape” interventions (Pawelski, 2016 ). For example, with the growing interests in positive psychology, researchers and practitioners have suggested employing several positive psychology interventions, such as expressing gratitude, savoring experiences, and identifying one’s strengths (Tetrick & Winslow, 2015 ). Another stream of positive psychology is psychological capital, which includes four malleable functions of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007 ). Workplace interventions should include both “red cape” interventions (i.e., interventions to reduce negative experiences) and “green cape” interventions (i.e., workplace wellness programs; Polly, 2014 ).

A Healthy Organization’s Pledge

A healthy workplace requires healthy workers. Period. Among all organizations’ missions should be the focus on a healthy workforce. To maintain a healthy workforce, the company must routinely examine its own contributions in terms of how it structures itself; reinforces communications among employees, vendors, and clients; how it rewards and cares for its people (e.g., ensuring they get sufficient rest and can detach from work); and the extent to which people at the upper levels are truly connected with the people at the lower levels. As a matter of practice, management must recognize when employees are overworked, unwell, and poorly engaged. Management must also take stock of when it is doing well and right by its contributors’ and maintain and reinforce the good practices, norms, and procedures. People in the workplace make the rules; people in the workplace can change the rules. How management sees its employees and values their contribution will have a huge role in how a company takes stock of its own pain points. Providing employees with tools to manage their own reactions to work-related stressors and consequent strains is fine, but wouldn’t it be grand if organizations took better notice about what they could do to mitigate the strain-producing stressors in the first place and take ownership over how employees are treated?

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Stress Management Essay Examples

The relationship between work stress and work life balance of it professionals.

The present study was taken with the objective to explore the relationship between factors causing work stress and work life balance of IT professionals. On the basis of results, it can be concluded that all the selected work related variables viz. work autonomy, work ambiguity,...

Research of Stress Management Techniques

Stress embodies physical, mental, or emotional factors that have the potential to cause bodily or mental harm/tension. All human beings encounter stress/stressors at some point in their lives. Stressors can affect a situation, circumstance, or individual negatively or positively. The direction of the stress depends...

Stress: Conclusion About Its Consequences on Memory and Learning

This is a stress essay: conclusion about the consequences of stress on the process of learning, memorizing and on memory at all. It is verifiable truth that stressful encounters may influence learning experiences and memory measures. Less clear is the specific idea of these stress...

No Way to a Relief: a Conclsuion About Chronic Stress

Stress is a natural response to challenging or threatening situations. It is a physiological and psychological response that helps individuals cope with adversity. However, there can be made one clear conclusion about stress - this essay explores the chronic stress as it can have negative...

The Cost of Bad Habits: Academic Performance and Unhealthy Lifestyle

Literature review is basically about linking the study which has been conducted by other researchers to our research topic. The purpose of this unhealthy lifestyle essay was to determine the relationship between unhealthy lifestyle and academic performance among undergraduates at IUMW. Lifestyle depends on many...

The Impact of Stress: Understanding Causes and Effects

Stress can be caused by various reasons in ones lifetime. There are general causes of stress which can be provoked by common life events. In this cause and effect of stress will be an attempt to reveal the topic od stress, its causes and effects. ...

Managing Stress: Strategies for Coping with Life's Pressures

Over the decades, stress has grown to become among the top causes of illness and death especially in the productive stage of human growth. Various disorders and chronic diseases resulting from stress induced effects have risen and become a norm over the past few decades...

Informative Essay About Stress

Stress is the body's way of responding to demand or pressures. It can be caused by both good and bad experiences. In many cases stress is a healthy reaction. It helps us cope with life's challenges. However too much stress, or prolonged stress can affect...

Being a Student Essay: Importance of Exercise and a Refreshed Mindset

High school has many components, some society recognizes more than others. Maybe studying the night before an exam, learning equations in math, or even on graduation day when students receive their diploma. All of which are clearly part of American high schools that relate to...

Academic Stress: Introduction to the Topic

Stress is a universal phenomenon and burning concerns which disturbs all people in all walks of life. It bothers physical as well as psychological domain on the person and create hindrance in the development of the personality and performance. It also pothered research scholars in...

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