Nursing Occupational Stress - Research Paper Example

In recent years, humans are experiencing increased pressure not only in their everyday life but also at their work place due to the multifarious nature of their roles in the current society. The complexity and multiplicity of people's role and the ensuing stress that they are subjected to, have evoked the interest of researchers, and a considerable body of studies have accumulated on 'stress'. In the process of trying to explain the exact meaning of the word stress, scientists have offered a variety of differing definitions.

Willner (1993) finds that "giving one definition to stress is rather problematic." If people are asked to define the word stress, they will all tend to give varying definitions of the same. This is because each individual experiences stress in a different way. Consequently, researchers who conducted studies on the subject offered different explanations of stress. According to Abouderie (1996), stress is "a complex experience, which has been explained and investigated in various different ways and in general terms, and it originates from over-demanding situations.

" On the other hand, Hans Seleys (1936) defines stress as "an unspecified reaction of the body to the everyday pressure and needs which results in pleasant or painful outcomes." According to Richard (Please indicate the year of publication), the term stress is defined as "the state of anxiety constructed from an event or responsibility that someone cannot deal with." A more exhaustive explanation of the term can be found in the definition that "stress is commonly accepted as a mental, emotional, psychological or physiological disruptive condition resulting from excessive pressure being placed on an individual.

" (Deane, Chummun and Prashad 2001 and Occupational Hazards 2004). Stress can be the outcome of an anxious day at work or a terrible flight to New York. Hans Selye (1936) concludes that stress is "a way of life" and he goes beyond by saying that: "Everyone knows what stress is, but nobody really knows."What is work stressOne of the most important types of stress common to the modern world is work stress. A study by Lehtinen, Haditaja and Hinkkanen (2003) concludes that "occupational stress was found to be the second most frequent occupational health problem which is affecting 28% of employees in the European Union.

" Consequently, occupational psychologists researched the field of occupational stress in order to prevent the negative impacts that stress causes at the workplace environment as well as to the individuals. In addition, researchers who examined the field of occupational stress identified the factors that cause it. Psychologists, after exhaustive research, find that "occupational stress was the psychological and emotional reactions that arise when employees experience an imbalance between their occupation demands and their capability and/or resources to congregate these demands.

" (Deane et al, 2001 and Bekker, Jong , Zijlstra and Van Landeghem 2000). In more simplistic terms, occupational stress can be discerned as the pressure which an individual experiences in the workplace environment.PMI- measure of occupational stressThere are also many synonyms used to replace the word