Humanitarian workers often operate in high-risk environments, including warzones, environmental disasters, and outbreaks of infectious diseases, amongst others. Research shows that the mental health of any worker is affected when exposed to high levels of negative stress for some time. Stress management and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) are, on the other hand, used to counteract stress and the consequences of stressors. The aim of the study was to find out if MHPSS is different for international and national humanitarian workers within the investigated organizations and how the implementation of stress management, a vital part of MHPSS, can benefit the well-being of humanitarian workers. The author conducted the information for the research through semi-structured interviews with psychologists working with MHPSS of humanitarian staff in three organizations: IOM, ICRC, and MSF. The results were analyzed through the lenses of preventative stress management, a concept combining both organizational and individual approaches to stress management. The findings displayed a difference in accessing MHPSS because of stigma and awareness regarding mental health. Increased awareness granted more access for humanitarian personnel to MHPSS and increased their demands for more resources. The results of implemented interventions in the organizations showed favorable results. Therefore, the conclusion proclaimed the importance of continuing to raise awareness of mental well-being for all humanitarian staff since knowledge and a positive attitude towards stress management increase the possibility of enhancing the well-being of the humanitarian workers.

Forskningsfrågor: 1. Vilka proaktiva åtgärder använder arbetsgivare i förebyggande syfte för att undvika utvecklingen av negativ stress på arbetsplatsen? 2. Vilka reaktiva åtgärder använder arbetsgivare för att hantera redan utvecklad arbetsrelaterad stress hos sina medarbetare?  Syfte: Undersöka de praktiska åtgärder som arbetsgivare använder för att hantera arbetsrelaterad stress. Därmed eftersträvar denna studie till att bidra med en ackumulerad samling av konkreta förslag på åtgärder som kan användas praktiskt i olika arbetsrelaterade sammanhang. Metod: Kvalitativ metod med en abduktiv forskningsansats. Datainsamling genom djupgående semistrukturerade intervjuer som genomfördes en och en. Den primära respondentgruppen var arbetsgivare.  Slutsats: Praktiska åtgärder på proaktiv och reaktiv stresshantering sammanfattas enligt studien genom fyra teman: kommunikation, kunskap, ledarskap och företagskultur. Genom regelbunden kommunikation kan symtom på stress upptäckas i tid och tillsammans med medarbetaren hitta en lösning för återhämtning. Genom planering kan onödig stress undvikas. Kunskap om stress och verktyg för hantering kan med fördel undvika utvecklingen av stress. Förslag på gott ledarskap i stresshanteringssyfte kan handla om närvaro och att visa att man som ledare finns där för att hjälpa medarbetare som drabbas av stress. En öppenhet kring dialoger om stress kan ha betydelse för hur stress kan undvikas och hanteras. En företagskultur som främjar gemenskap i kombination med en öppenhet om stress, kan hjälpa medarbetare att våga be om hjälp när stress upplevs på arbetsplatsen. / Research questions: 1. What proactive measures do employers use preventively to avoid the development of negative stress in the workplace? 2. What reactive measures do employers use to manage already developed negative work-related stress in their employees? Purpose: Investigate the practical measures employers use to manage work-related stress. Thus, this study strives to contribute with an accumulated of concrete proposals for measures that collection can be used practically in various work-related contexts. Method: Qualitative method with an abductive research approach. Data collection through in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted one on one. The primary respondent group was employers. Conclusion: Practical measures on proactive and reactive stress management are summarized according to the study through four themes: communication, knowledge, leadership and corporate culture. Through continuous communication, symptoms of stress can be detected in time and together with the employee, find a solution for recovery. Through planning, unnecessary stress can be avoided. Knowledge of stress and tools for management can advantageously avoid the development of stress. Suggestions for good leadership for stress management purposes can be about presence and showing that you as a leader are there to help employees who are affected by stress. An openness about dialogues about stress can have an impact on how stress can be avoided and managed. A corporate culture that promotes community, combined with an openness about stress, can help employees dare to ask for help when stress is experienced in the workplace.

Bakgrund: Tidigare forskning har visat på att arbetsrelaterad stress kan bidra till negativa konsekvenser i form av både fysisk och psykisk ohälsa för sjuksköterskor. Att sjuksköterskans välbefinnande påverkas kan i sin tur leda till att omvårdnaden och patientsäkerheten påverkas negativt. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att identifiera strategier nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskor kan använda sig av för att hantera stress i omvårdnadsarbetet.  Metod: Studien använde en kvalitativ ansats och granskade 11 vetenskapliga artiklar från databaserna CINAHL, PubMed och PsycInfo. Artiklarna kvalitetsgranskades enligt SBU:s mall och analyserades med hjälp av Popenoe med fleras modell. Resultat: Nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskor som upplevde arbetsrelaterad stress använde sig av varierande copingstrategier i sitt arbete. I resultatet framkom fyra teman för stresshantering: Självmedkänsla, Stöd, Kontroll, Återhämtning. Konklusion: Studiens slutsatser pekar på att stöd, självmedkänsla och återhämtning är väsentliga komponenter för att främja välbefinnande hos nyutexaminerade sjuksköterskor och därmed öka patientsäkerheten. För att stödja dessa sjuksköterskor i deras övergång till yrket föreslås implementering av stödsystem och riktlinjer som främjar dessa strategier. Detta kan potentiellt skapa en mer positiv och stödjande arbetsmiljö för sjuksköterskor i början av sina yrkesliv. / Background: Work-related stress, according to research, can contribute to adverse consequences in the form of both physical and mental health issues for nurses. This, in turn, can negatively impact patient care and safety. Aim: The purpose of this literature review was to identify strategies that newly graduated nurses can employ to manage stress in their nursing practice. Method: The study utilized a qualitative approach, reviewing 11 scientific articles from CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycInfo. These articles were assessed for quality using the SBU's criteria and analyzed through the Popenoe et al model. Results: Newly graduated nurses experiencing work-related stress employed various coping strategies in their work. The results revealed four themes for stress management: Self-compassion, Support, Control and Recovery.  Conclusion: The study's conclusions highlight that support, self-compassion, and recovery are essential components to promote well-being and patient safety among newly graduated nurses. To support the new nurses in their transition to the profession, the implementation of support systems and guidelines that promote these strategies is recommended. This could potentially create a more positive and supportive work environment for nurses at the beginning of their careers.

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This randomized controlled trial examined the effects of Music Therapy (MT), Music Medicine (MM), or Attention Control (AC) on physiological and psychological parameters of stress for adult and older adult patients receiving care in the Intensive Care Unit of a community general hospital. Previous studies have indicated effectiveness of music therapy or music medicine for these medical patients, but few data are available for music therapy interventions. This study was an attempt to add to available information about the effects of music therapy compared to the effects of music medicine or attention control for this patient population. Participants (twenty-eight adults, ranging in age from 37-83 years; not mechanically ventilated at the time of session) were randomly assigned to music therapy, music medicine or the attention control group. Repeated measures of heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and anxiety and pain levels were collected before the session, immediately after the session and at 60 minutes post-session. Anxiety was measured using the Faces Anxiety Scale, and pain was self-reported via a Visual Analog Scale. Post-session length of stay was collected from the participants' medical records. Overall, there were no significant interactions among study groups and outcome measures. There was a statistically significant difference between length of stay for music therapy participants and attention control. Over time from pre-session to post-session, statistically significant decreases in anxiety scores were measured for both music medicine and music therapy groups. Pain scores decreased for both music medicine and music therapy groups, however not significantly. Some medically beneficial effects of music therapy or music medicine were evident in the data. / Music Therapy

Educators long ago recognized that a variety of factors contribute to academic success. High school grades, college entrance scores, personal motivation, and self esteem are among the traditional indicators or factors commonly identified with academic success. As community colleges open the doors of higher education to ever expanding segments of the population, the need for knowledge of the myriad factors contributing to academic success increases. The purpose of this study was to address a portion of that need via the examination of stress appraisal and coping strategies among community college students. The framework for the research in this study follows a process-centered theory of stress and coping developed by Folkman and Lazarus (1985). Specifically, this study was an exploration of how stress and coping strategies change over time and what relationship that change may have to academic achievement. Data for the study was collected from Virginia community college students currently enrolled in math classes. Students in these classes completed three stress and coping instruments centered around the focal point of their first major math test. Course grades served as a measure of academic achievement for comparison to stress and coping scores. Comparisons were also made among the student variables of age, gender, and level of academic preparedness. / Ed. D.

The present study examined a social marketing approach to a health promotion program in stress management education that combined various aspects of large scale mass-market campaigns and individually tailored interventions. The study was conducted in two major phases using two groups from the main population of retired university faculty members. The intervention was a series of stress management seminars which was presented in each phase. Program evaluation took place at several intervals throughout the study. The first phase of the study served to assess the retirees' needs and to develop the program content and delivery style by using the target population's administrative committee. This committee became the focus group. The presentation of the stress management seminars to the focus group was specifically tailored to the group through frequent interactions and participation by the group members. On evaluation, the program was shown to be effective on a number of dimensions, but it was also labor intensive. A second phase was conducted on a larger sample from the target population of retirees. The sample was found to be equivalent to the focus group on demographic variables, stress levels, and stress management practices. This phase utilized the same program content that was developed in the first phase, but further examined program delivery. Two styles of program delivery were compared. The first was a didactic, lecture-style frequently used in large scale educational campaigns; the second was an interactive, discussion style, used more frequently in individual interventions. Overall, the program participants from both phases improved in their abilities to identify their stress symptoms, stress management strategies that they felt they would use, and increased their levels of perceived control over their stress. Factor analysis was one method used to evaluate program effectiveness and to replicate the factor structure of coping strategies from another study. The utility of factor analysis as an assessment procedure was developed and supported. No major significant differences between delivery styles were found. Thus, indirect tailoring of the program for the target population through the representative focus group was as effective as directly tailoring the program with the target population. Both the interactive and didactic approaches can be integrated into a single educational program to obtain an optimal combination of cost-effectiveness and informativeness. Once the program content was developed through the intensive process of tailoring in the first phase, the more efficient didactic delivery style could be used equally successfully with a matched population. Clinically, the study served as a cost-effective prototype of a stress-management education program for the mass-market. / Ph. D.

The purpose of the present study was 1) to begin exploring the relationship between female gender role stress and eating disorders and 2) to validate the ability of the Feminine Gender Role Stress scale (FGRS; Gillespie, 1990) to distinguish between women who are more likely to evidence behavioral and physiological reactivity to a "feminine" (body image) stressor than a neutral control condition. The FGRS scale was developed to measure the cognitive tendency among women to appraise specific situations as stressful due to commitments, beliefs, and values that are a product of the traditional female gender role. It was proposed that women with high female gender role stress, as measured by this scale, should display more reactivity when female stressors are encountered. This hypothesis was tested by selecting women who scored high and low on the FGRS scale and subjecting them to a situation found to be more stressful for women than for men during which physiological and psychological distress were monitored. The stressor entailed a body-image-threat physical exam and interview which was designed to be a stressor relevant to body image disturbance and eating disorders. The experimental design was a 2 (High verses Low FGRS women) by 2 (Stress condition verses a Control condition) factorial design with cardiovascular reactivity and self-reported anxiety as dependent variables. The results supported the predicted interaction between FGRS and Stress Condition on heart rate reactivity. High FGRS women in the Stress Condition evidenced greater heart rate reactivity than Low FGRS women or participants in the Control Condition. Support for experimental hypotheses was found in a Similar trend for interaction for systolic blood pressure reactivity, whereas diastolic blood pressure reactivity was less supportive. It is believed that the FGRS scale can distinguish which women will evidence stress in situations which challenge traditional female gender role values and beliefs. Therefore, the FGRS may have utility for determining which women are more vulnerable to developing female predominant psychopathology, such as eating disorders. / Master of Science

Text in Afrikaans / This study ascertains the extent of the experience of stress and the nature of stress management by educators. The literature showed that stress is defined from various theoretical perspectives; various approaches to stress management exist; and educators manage stress in various ways. This study defines stress from a cognitive-transactional perspective. A qualitative research method was used, descriptive data were generated by focus groups and inductively analysed. The results show that educators experienced stress ( much as seen in the literature) due to organisational, management and personal factors. According to this research, educators experience stress on the physical, emotional, social and intellectual levels. Educators' efforts to deal with stress reflect direct techniques such as seeking personal support and using confrontational techniques, as well as indirect techniques which encompass intellectual and physical techniques. Finally the development of a stress management program for educators is recommended. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

Text in Afrikaans / The purpose of the research was to determine the extent to which health issues, and particularly work stress, are managed at a welfare organization. The group investigated consisted of 49 registered social workers employed at nine welfare organizations in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The research process was directed by quantitative research, the research information being obtained through a literature study and structured questionnaire. A number of health issues were identified in the workplace. Based on the empirical investigation it was concluded that health management does not enjoy a high priority at welfare organisations. The health issues that have the most impact on the respondents' work ability are work stress and burnout. It is recommended that organisations compile a holistic policy for health management. There is a need for implementation of employee assistance and wellness programmes for health management. Such programmes promote the productivity and general wellbeing of social workers. / Die doel van die navorsingstudie was om te bepaal tot watter mate gesondheidskwessies, in die besonder werkstres, by 'n welsynsorganisasie bestuur word. Die ondersoekgroep het bestaan uit 49 geregistreerde maatskaplike werkers werksaam by nege welsynsorganisasies in die Nelson Mandela Metropool. Die navorsingsproses is deur kwantitatiewe navorsing gerig en die navorsingsinligting is met behulp van 'n literatuurstudie en gestruktureerde vraelys bekom. Daar word tans 'n aantal gesondheidskwessies in die werkplek geidentifiseer. Na aanleiding van die empiriese ondersoek is daar tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat gesondheidbestuur nie 'n hoe prioriteit geniet by welsynsorgnisasies nie. Die gesondheidskwessies wat die mees beduidende impak op die respondente se werkvermoe het, is werkstres en uitbranding. Daar word aanbeveel dat organisasies 'n holistiese beleid ten opsigte van gesondheidsbestuur opstel. Daar is 'n behoefie aan die implementering van werknemerhulp- en werknemerwelstandprogramme vir gesondheidsbestuur omdat sulke programme die produktiwiteit en algemene welstand van maatskaplike werkers kan bevorder. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Social Work)