Stress Reduction And Prevention

Since 1950, when Hans Selye first devoted an entire book to the study of stress,professional and public concern with stress has grown tremendous ly. These concerns have contributed to an understanding that has impli cations for both prevention and treatment. The present book is designed to combine these data with the clinical concerns of dealing with stressed populations. In order to bridge the gap between research and practice, contributions are included by major researchers who have been con cerned with the nature of stress and coping and by clinical researchers who have developed stress management and stress prevention programs. The book is divided into three sections. The goal of the first section is to survey the literature on stress and coping and to consider the implica tions for setting up stress prevention and management programs. Follow ing some introductory observations by the editors are the observations of three prominent investigators in the field of stress and coping. Irving JaniS, Seymour Epstein, and Howard Leventhal have conducted seminal studies on the topic of coping with stress. For this book they have each gone beyond their previous writings in proposing models and guidelines for stress prevention and management programs. While each author has tackled his task somewhat differently, a set of common suggestions has emerged.

Gain a critical understanding of the nature of stress from a positive psychology framework that allows you to look beyond a simple pathology of stress-related symptoms. This new edition of Stress Management and Prevention integrates Eastern and Western concepts of stress while emphasizing an experiential approach to learning through the use of exercises, activities, and self-reflection. This student-friendly text contains chapters on conflict resolution, mindfulness meditation, time management, prevention of health risks, and cognitive restructuring. Included throughout are an emphasis on mindfulness and the neuroscience behind it, more theories, and new techniques for stress reduction and time management. An updated companion website includes even more video-based activities so students can see techniques in practice.

Work-related stress and resulting sickness absence costs the UK economy about £3.7 billion every year (HSE research). In this jargon-free guide, Jeremy Stranks explains what stress is and what causes it, how people respond to stress and cope with it, how stress can be evaluated and managed and what employers’ legal responsibilities are. Written for managers, HR professionals and safety reps, the emphasis of this book is strongly on practical advice and solutions. The author provides simple tools to measure and assess stress and shows how to deal with a range of stress-creating workplace situations, such as bullying, harassment and violence at work. The book also details how to implement a stress management system that complies with the new HSE Management Standards to avoid civil claims and criminal sanctions by the enforcement agencies. End of chapter key points draw out the implications of the preceding text for the employer and an executive summary shows the main aspects that senior management have to be aware of. In addition, the book contains forms and templates to help with managing stress. These are also available for download on the companion website. Stress at Work will also be a valuable reference for students on the following courses as part of modules concerned with Human Factors: NEBOSH Certificate and Diploma courses, MSc courses in Occupational Health and Safety Management, IOSH Managing Safely, British Safety Council diploma and NVQ level 3 and 4 courses in Occupational Safety and Health. Jeremy Stranks has 40 years of experience in occupational safety and health enforcement, management, consultancy and training. He is a founding member of NEBOSH and has lectured on numerous training courses on all aspects of health and safety. His company Safety and Hygiene Consultants offers companies advice in drawing up Health and Safety policies, writing risk assessments and audit procedures.

Stress Management: From Basic Science to Better Practice examines documented pathways between stress and health and develops the scientific foundations for sound interventions. The book begins with a broad review of the term 'stress' and its importance for health. The text then provides a critical examination of the elements of the stress process, extracts supporting research for a rationale of stress management and describes various stress management techniques and their effectiveness.

In a representative study made of European workers, twenty-eight per cent of employees reported that stress affects their health and their performance at work. Occupational stress is a serious problem for the performance of individuals, organisations and as a consequence, for national economies. Preventing Stress, Improving Productivity investigates the ways in which companies can combat stress by changing the working environment rather than only treating individual employees with stress symptoms. Costs and benefits of stress prevention are discussed, with an emphasis on appraoches that involve both the work situation and the individual worker. The heart of the book consists of eleven European country chapters, each overviewing the current status with respect to occupational stress and its prevention in that country and then presenting one detailed case study an example of good preventive practice. Preventing Stress, Improving Productivity identifies five factors that are critical for a stress reduction programme to work, both in terms of employee health and well-being and from a financial point of view. Successful strategies combine participation from workers and support from top management. Useful as a reference for psychologists, human resource managers, occupational physicians, ergonomists and consultants, this book will also be an invaluable aid to managers in the day-to-day running of organisations.

Practical Stress Management: A Comprehensive Workbook, Seventh Edition, is a focused, personal, worksheet-based text that combines theory and principles with hands-on exercises to help readers manage the negative impact of stress in life. As a practical tool for recognizing and preventing stress, the action-oriented approach enables the student to make personal change through self-reflection and behavior change techniques. This approach allows the book to be used as a text in a course or as a self-study/reference book. In this edition, the authors cover financial stress and expand their section on sleep. The book is accompanied by online MP3 files of guided relaxation techniques and downloadable worksheets. In addition, worksheets and thoughts for reflection boxes help users determine their own level of stress and apply effective stress management techniques. Completely revised, including updated stress management techniques and references, along with further readings in each chapter Updated websites accompany each chapter Includes ten new worksheets, along with an updating of remaining worksheets Contains 'thoughts for reflection' boxes that highlight meditation techniques throughout the world

The contributions in Creating Healthy Workplaces include a number of interventions that relate the efforts undertaken by researchers and organizations together, to reduce stress and improve the mental and physical health of employees through positive change initiatives. Those working in the field of occupational stress have received criticism that too much emphasis has been placed on negative issues and that positive initiatives have been largely ignored. With the growing influence of the positive movement, this book explores the implications of using a positive approach as opposed to a stress management one and compares the types of interventions they each require. From a positive perspective, there is a need to understand the characteristics of healthy, thriving, and flourishing people and organizations. This book explores the implications of using a positive approach as opposed to a stress management one. Some of the interventions described in Creating Healthy Workplaces target individuals and their attitudes and behaviours, others target workplace relationships, work units and the wider organization. Outcomes such as reduced occurrences of smoking, obesity, depression, elevated blood pressure, accidents and workplace injuries, presenteeism, absence and staff turnover are reported. The factors associated with the success of these interventions are identified and advice is given as to how interested individuals and organizations might proceed to develop worksite interventions on their own.