My purpose with the envisaged study was to determine the effect a critical incident have on employees and how their functioning, psychosocially and at work is affected. Furthermore the goal was to determine if the employees who was affected by a critical incident was exposed to Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) intervention, and if so did it have an impact on their functioning ( Psychosocial and work performance). An extended literature study was conducted to comprehend the meaning of trauma, the different facets of trauma, how it can impact on an emotional, physical, cognitive and behavioural level. The literature study further focused on the impact of a critical incident on the work performance and family life of the employee. Attention was given to the models in CISM intervention, the role of Employee assistance programs as well as the perceived outcomes of interventions the respondents were exposed to. In the study, data was collected in a qualitative as well as a quantitative manner. In the quantitative study two questionnaires were used as tool to collect information. In the qualitative study the researcher used clinical case notes as part of the document analysis as well as a semi structured interview with both the employee as well as the manager as data sources. Respondents (therapists) were selected according to the probability sampling procedure for the quantitative study and respondents volunteered to participate in the qualitative study after participating in the quantitative study. Participation in the study was voluntary and the participation rate in the quantitative study was 67.5% and in the qualitative study 22.22% It was evident from the study that employees were affected by a variety of critical incidents divergent in severity, circumstances and duration. The impact on each individual was unique and responses ranged in terms of severity. It was evident from the study that employees were affected by the critical incident and subsequently their work performance and psychosocial functioning was affected. The study managed to provide sufficient evidence on the impact of the critical incident on the psychosocial functioning and work performance of the employee. The research proved that individual counselling is effective in working through the incident and improving the psychosocial functioning and work performance significantly. The study also proved that intervention in the form of defusing, debriefing, individual counselling and aftercare is effective in addressing employees' reactions, supporting them to recover emotionally from the critical incident and improving their psychosocial functioning and subsequently their work performance. Conclusions and recommendations were made in terms of the empirical findings. The researcher hope that these conclusions and recommendations will be of value and contribute to the study field of CISM and EAP and have a positive impact on employees exposed to critical incidents and their recovery process. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Resiliency is an important characteristic of successful therapists (Aponte, 1991; Aponte & Carlsen, 2009; Aponte & Winter, 2000; Clark, 2009; Hamel & Laraway, 2004; Kuiper, 2012; Protinsky & Coward, 2001; Rosenburg & Pace, 2006; Wolgien & Coady, 1997), especially those in entry-level positions that tend to involve high stress and turnover (Acker, 2004; Clark, 2009; Davis, 2013; Greenson, Guo, Barth, Harley, & Sission, 2009; Grosch & Olsen, 1994; Gupta, Peterson, Lysaght, & Zweck, 2012; Horan, 2002; Maslach & Leiter, 1997; Negash & Sahin, 2011; Rosenburg &Pace, 2006; Skovolt &Trotter Mathison, 2011). This study explored the perspectives of six therapists providing in home services in community based agencies who succeeded and thrived in entry-level positions. The researcher inquired about how the therapists defined and maintained necessary resiliency. The participating therapists were recommended by their agency directors for their exemplary performance; they defined themselves as succeeding and thriving. The researcher used the qualitative research method of phenomenology (Kafle, 2011) to examine the participants’ lived experiences. The researcher derived five primary themes from the thematic analysis of the interviews: (1) In-home therapists should enjoy the freedom of their jobs; (2) In-home therapists should schedule their time creatively; (3) In-home therapists should understand the unique needs of their clientele; (4) In-home therapists should practice self-care; and (5) In-home therapists should vary their clientele. These themes represent methods by which the participants manage to become successful in-home therapists and prevent burnout.

This study aims to explore the extent to which participating in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme may result in shifts in people’s relationship with time, notably whether they become more present-focussed. The eight week MBSR programme advocates mindfulness, which is defined as paying attention on purpose in the present moment without judgement, as a way of reducing stress. The programme has been available in East London since 2009. A case study of eight MBSR programme participants’ experiences using narrative analysis was conducted. Narrative psychology and social constructionism provided the theoretical basis in which our storied lives are located in culturally inscribed narratives, with specific discourses around time and stress. Time discourses tend to pressurise people to believe that it is better to go about daily life at a fast pace, which requires significant hurrying and rushing with pervasive senses of time urgency. Stress discourse locates stress management within individuals. One-on-one semi structured interviews were held so that participants could reflect on their experience of time and the present moment orientation of the programme. Participants’ perceived a shift in how they experienced time with greater awareness of being present-focussed and they identified stress reduction benefits, which included feeling calmer, less panicked and more self-accepting. However, some of the participants maintaining the formal mindfulness practices like the body scan, meditation and mindful movement after the programme often proved difficult, as they were drawn back into their dominant narratives around time which were characterised by busyness, productivity and time scarcity.

This study addresses the effects of the changing workforce and the physiological and psychological benefits of fitness. The purpose of this experiment is to test the relationship between situational stressors, perceived fitness, exercise locus of control, self-control, and perceived stress.

This study provided administrators in a large southern metropolitan public school district an opportunity to participate in a stress-related research study. The questionnaire contained such stress-related probe areas as spiritual beliefs, preferred and imposed (perceived) orders of major-life emphasis areas, professional environment, personal-social environment, and probes into the ethical positions held by the administrators. The professional environment section contained subsets of internal (on-the-job) probes, external (political) probes, as well as personal (incentive) probes.The personal-social environment section was sub-divided into five Maslow hierarchy-of-need related probes such as physiological needs, safety-security needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-fulfillment needs. The final section of the instrument sampled the administrators' responses to probes concerning their concepts of God, their concepts of the Bible arid their positions on eight ethical statements.

Stress hos sjuksköterskor är vanligt förekommande vilket kan påverka arbetsförmågan och leda till en försämring i omvårdandskvalitén. Arbetsklimatet gör att sjuksköterskor oavsett arbetslängd funderar över att lämna yrket alternativt valt att lämna. Samtidigt är det brist på sjuksköterskor i Sverige och majoriteten av arbetsgivare är i behov av att anställa sjuksköterskor på grund- och specialistnivå. Syftet med studien var att beskriva stresshanteringsmetoder för att minska arbetsrelaterad stress hos sjuksköterskor. Studien var en systematisk litteraturöversikt som inkluderat 24 studier som publicerats på engelska mellan 2010–2018 med hög och medel vetenskaplig kvalité. Resultatet identifierade tio stresshanteringsmetoder som kunde minska arbetsrelaterad stress och tre tillvägagångssätt påvisades. Reducera stressorer på arbetsplatsen; Organisationförändringar och utbildning i vård av äldre. Hitta metoder för att anpassa sig till stressfulla miljöer; Coping strategier. Interventioner med stresshanteringsmetoder; Avslappningsövningar, BREATHE, Mindfulness, PAR, Resilience training program, Self-help through mobile phone och Stressmanagement program. Sjuksköterskor kan möjligtvis stärka sitt empowerment med välvalda coping strategier där sjuksköterskan tar kontroll över sina handlingar och känslor. Förstärkning av begriplighet och hanterbarhet enligt Antonovskys teori om KASAM kan eventuellt stärkas med sex av stresshanteringsmetoder från resultatet. I syfte att stärka sjuksköterskors meningsfullhet bör gemensamma värderingar stärkas bland sjuksköterskor i olika arbetsgrupper. Meningsfullhet bidrar till motivation och engagemang samt gör att stress tolkas som utmaningar värda att investera energi i.

The ETSU dental hygiene program is very competitive and rigorous for those admitted. Student dental hygienists may experience higher levels of anxiety and more stressors while completing their course work and clinical hours than they have previously experienced in general education and prerequisite courses. These increased number of stressors and higher levels of anxiety may have negative impacts on students’ academic performance and success in clinical learning environments. A better understanding of the actual need for a stress reduction and anxiety management curriculum will facilitate creating and implementing this type of curriculum. A total of 44 current ETSU dental hygiene students were included in the study, juniors (55%) and (45%) seniors. Nearly all respondents reported their current stress and anxiety levels are affecting their lives (97.5%). Consistently over a third of students who completed surveys from the ETSU dental hygiene program are experiencing physical symptoms of stress and anxiety including headaches, gastrointestinal distress, trouble sleeping, eating too much or too little daily, tense muscles, worry or phobias, anger or hostility, irritability or hostility, and nervousness 2-3 times a week. The average stress level of the 44 ETSU dental hygiene students reported on a 1-10 scale was a 7.65. Nearly half (40%) of all ETSU dental hygiene students currently enrolled reported their stress level as 8 out of 10 with 10 defined as “I can only think of my stress and anxiety”. Further research including an educational intervention to help teach students skills and coping mechanisms to manage and reduce stress and anxiety was recommended.

The Master´s Thesis „Stress evaluation, coping and reduction” deals with analyzing stress in students, ordinary workers and top managers. The theoretical part analyzes stress, effects of stress, its impact on human health, his work / study results and overall his life. The practical part is concerned with the influence of stress on students, ordinary workers and top managers, using a questionnaire. On the basis of the analysis is specified what causes stress for the various groups, how most respondents solve the stress. The conclusion of the work includes the proposal of effective coping and stress reduction for each group of respondents.

Diploma thesis „Management of personality development“ is focused on analysis of issues in case of managers of the company Advantage Consulting s.r.o. Theoretical analysis is focused on time management, stress management, personality development and then issue of personality types follows. The analysis of individual managers in all mentioned fields is given and recommendations for increasing level of management of personality development are for-mulated.

Diploma thesis „Management of personal development“ is focused on the analysis in the management of personal development in the production company ITAB Shop Concept CZ, a.s. focusing on technical-economic workers, and especially to the managers of company. The theoretical part is focused on the fundamental concepts in this area, defining the manager’s personality, his demands, self-management (time and stress management), training and development employees. It also discusses the internal and external factors acting on managerial development, improving performance through mental hygiene, lifestyle and wellbeing. The practical part focuses on the current status of management of personal development and the rules under which the selection process and the choice of development and education. It is focused on finding the requirements for managers and design of a particular solution that is focused to the opportunities for further development company.