Stress and Coping Strategies - Case Study Example

Running Head: How to handle life stressors Coping strategies and resilience when encountering life stressors Name Institution Date (a) The Case Analysis and discussion Introduction Situations that provoke stress are called stressors. People encounter these situations from all directions in life, almost every time. Important events like dropping out from school, moving, experiencing losses and moving from one job to another often provoke stress. Also routine activities can contribute to your level of stress. How an elderly person manages the life stressors determines his or her future success and that of people who are close to him or her like family members. When faced with a stressful situation that seems to influence your functioning, it is important you work out how to get through such tough moments as soon as possible (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, (2009). There is no specific way of coping with life stressors, but in order to survive stressful situations, the stressed person should find out what strategy works out best in particular situations. Thus, several coping strategies to managing stress are presented in the discussion, focusing on the literature review and the interview. Case Analysis From the literature review, self-help approaches can be used by the elderly people who are vulnerable to stress to build personal resilience. This should be a continuous process that requires close family relationships, peer groups and support from the entire society. During discussion with my grandmother, I realized that she understands how to endure problems caused by stress, but she is not able to identify particular stressors due to their prevalence. Y: Well... um...I cannot tell you what exactly the most stressful matters had been happened. Because it was too many However, recognizing problems caused by stress may be a difficult task for her due to their prevalence. She appears depressed and has a negative effect on her physical health due to pressure from her work and marriage. Y: At that time my marriage would under pressure, work would also under pressure as well. But look at the current life that I have got now In order to effectively cope up with stress you need to know the cycle of your stress and to control the response to stress. It is necessary to understand yourself and your style of coping with stress. The three accepted styles of coping with stress include task-oriented, emotional-oriented and distraction oriented styles. In the task-oriented style, an individual analyses the life stressor and takes appropriate course of action to directly handle the situation. Emotion-oriented style is where a stressed person opts to deal with his or her feelings and seeks for social support. On the other hand, distraction-oriented style requires a stressed person to utilize the external sources like physical activities to forget stressful encounters (Wek et al, 2006). From the interview I realized that my grandmother knows well how to cope with stressors by going to play with Mrs Chan who is her close friend. This helps her have time away from stressful situations at home. Y: .....I will date Mrs. Chan to go Yum Cha and play “Mahjong”. Before a stressed person decides to adopt a coping strategy which he or she feels that it is appropriate to use, it is necessary to analyse three important questions (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, 2009). First, whether or not the coping strategy can be used to handle the stressing situations at the time. Physical exercise like having a walk may help to reduce the stress my grandmothers goes through, but it may not provide the care to her husband. She is always worried about her husband and would not want to leave him any single moment. Y: ......I feel refuse to leave him alone at home, even at bedroom..... What is important is that all the coping strategies should be moderated. A person vulnerable to stress should know whether the coping strategy will provide a long term solution. Unfortunately, grandmother's coping strategies don't seem to give her lasting solution to the problem of her husband. Being an old man, grandfather's condition of health seems to persist, and given the fact that only person who is close to him is my grandmother, she continues to experience hardships taking care of grandfather. Y: Sigh...Just worried about your grandfather. Since he had stroke from last year, he always need someone looking after him 24 hours! I feel refuse to leave him alone at home, even at bedroom..... Physical coping strategy according to the literature review entails taking care of oneself and remaining healthy as much as possible by maintaining emotional composure (Abel, 2002). There are several things an individual can perform to reduce the level of stress. They include attending parties and participating in games. Physical activity helps to clear the mind of a stressed person, increases energy and decreases the level of tension (Sitzman, 2004). My grandmother whenever she feels so much stressed up takes a walk and this helps her gain energy and the opportunity to relax in a different environment. However, she is always careful not stay away for long in fear that the maid may not care for grandfather as she expects. Y: .....But I also worried the maid would abuse your grandfather when I was not at home.... This shows how much she is concerned and appreciates the condition of her husband, who is ever on the wheelchair due to stroke. Y: ....Since he had stroke from last year, he always need someone looking after him 24 hours!... Effects of tress can be reduced through relaxation exercises. It is good to allow your mind to have a break from thinking. This may require setting aside some time whenever you are faced by stressful moments to unwind (Jackson et al, 2007). This is a coping strategy that involves an individual moving away from the stressor. For instance, after a long time of taking care of grandfather, my grandmother prefers having some time to relax with a friend. Y: Okay.. well.. I gotta go to get change and have dinner with Mrs Chan tonight The way she explains to me the condition of grandfather, it is clear to me that she is under pressure and so much stressed. She explains that my grandfather has experienced memory loss and he sometimes confuses her to be the maid, and this really disturbs my grandmother. Y: .....Now he is slurred speech, memories impairment and difficult walking with Hemiplegia, so he need wheelchair to help daily life In order to cope with these stressful moments at home, it is the reason why she chooses to go and relax her mind in a different environment in the company of her friend Mrs Chan. It is also encouraged that whenever faced by stressful moments, a person can cope with the situation by changing the source of the stress (Abel, 2002). How an individual perceives situations depend on whether or not he or she finds it to be stressful. Mental coping strategy requires an individual to constructively use the thoughts and mind to work against the effects of stress. The review emphasise the use of personal attributes to build resilience and manage stress. A person should develop an outgoing character with a positive self-esteem to be able to encounter difficult stressful moments (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, 2009). My grandmother understands that her stressing factors come from her work, family issues, and more so from the delicate condition of her husband, and this is why she is able to approach them with a positive mind. Y: ...At that time my marriage would under pressure, work would also under pressure as well... Close family bonds having members with stable emotions are useful in helping the old people to cope with stress. My grandmother enjoys family support and knows how to respond to stress, for example by listening to the radio or engaging in physical activities like play. S: You cannot hang out and So how do you deal with the stress? Y: I will switch on the radio and listen to the Chinese Opera. Many times, people panic and become overwhelmed when they encounter stressful situations. They are brought down by pressure, a situation that worsens their problem. This is not the way to go, and they should remember that every problem in life always has a solution (Wek et al, 2006). Crean, (2004) asserts that a good life should have less stress, but with abundant of pleasure. People should be able to avoid stress by making happiness a priority in their day to day life. Many times we tend to concentrate so much on our work and other daily activities to an extent that we feel drained, unfulfilled and isolated. My grandmother is happy to have a big family that often gives her company. Her daughters and sons come to see their father every Sunday, and this comforts her and the husband. Y: Fortunately, your aunties and uncles will come to look after your grandfather on every single Sunday.... Otherwise, I will feel better when I met the grandchildren in the weekend.... The grandmother's friend, Mrs Chan also helps to reduce her stress by having dinner together at times. It is often healthy to take some time out and have different experience in life a part from working, and this is what grandmother does. Y: ....I gotta go to get change and have dinner with Mrs Chan tonight There are several social activities which an individual can engage into to reduce stress. For instance, going for outings and enjoying nature. In this case, a person can visit a park, where he or she will enjoy seeing the birds and trees in a more relaxed environment (Diehl and Hay, 2010). People who are vulnerable to stress can also use religion to help them have a reflection on things that happen in life and build new hope and beliefs about life events , which is important in managing stress. Support from the entire community and counseling is also significant in building resilience and coping with stress, especially in the elderly people. The problem encountered during the interview was the issue of language. The conversation in the interview was conducted in Cantonese since the old woman does not know English. Therefore, this was supposed to be translated to English for the lecturer to understand what the conversation was all about, and thus wastage of time. Another limitation was that the interviewer could not meet the interviewee face to face, and therefore he could not observe the reactions of the interviewee to help him adjust how to conduct the interview and get better results. When conducting research in the future, the researcher should use face-to-face interviews, and select an appropriate language to use to avoid wasting more time in translation. Conclusion In conclusion, life stressors may not be avoided at all and they are ever in our surroundings. In order to reduce stress levels, several coping strategies have to be used. The strategies as discussed above are categorized into three main groups: physical strategies which include having a walk, participating in games and relaxation exercises among others; cognitive coping strategies like maintaining emotional composure and knowing how to solve problems; and social coping strategies which focuses much on socialization. Therefore, the only way an individual can reduce the effects of stress is to learn how to cope with the life stressors. References Abel, M. H. (2002). Humor, stress, and coping strategies. Humor–International Journal of Humor Research, 15(4), 365-381. Crean, H. F. (2004). Social support, conflict, major life stressors, and adaptive coping strategies in Latino middle school students: An integrative model. Journal of Adolescent Research, 19(6), 657-676. Diehl, M., & Hay, E. L. (2010). Risk and resilience factors in coping with daily stress in adulthood: The role of age, self-concept incoherence, and personal control. Developmental psychology, 46(5), 1132. Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, (2009), Coping with Stress; Canadian Mental Association, National Centre. Jackson, D., Firtko, A., & Edenborough, M. (2007). Personal resilience as a strategy for surviving and thriving in the face of workplace adversity: a literature review. Journal of advanced nursing, 60(1), 1-9. Sitzman, K. (2004). Coping with stress. Home Healthcare Nurse, 22(9), 603. Wek, R. C., Jiang, H. Y., & Anthony, T. G. (2006). Coping with stress: eIF2 kinases and translational control. Biochemical Society Transactions, 34(1), 7-11. (b) Reflection on the Case Study In trying to understand how the elderly people handle life stressors like family problems, work-related stress and other daily stressing moments, I carried out an interview with my grandmother in order to find out about her stressing factors and her coping strategies. The undertaking has benefited me as an individual, especially by improving my researching skills. This is basically on formulation of questions and how to manage communication through phone such that I can get the right information from the interviewee. The process has also helped me to acquire general knowledge about life. I realized that we live in an environment where stress is inevitable. In our homes, in our places of work and even whenever we are on the move we are at risk of being stressed. The only remedy according to my findings is to be able to understand how to deal with these life stressors. I learnt about the ageing process and the problems the old people encounter in their life. The moment a child is born, the ageing process begins and continues until the child becomes old. As a person grows to maturity and old age, his or her behaviour and relationships also change. Elderly people experience changes in the physical appearance like shrinking of the skin, which to some people is a source of stress. It is important to appreciate the changes that occur in the body especially as we grow older to avoid developing health complications related to stress. The interview has also made understand how to cope with stress of any kind. There are several things people take for granted, but they are useful in reducing stress in our life. For instance, doing physical activities like walking, games and relaxing the body help release stress. I also realized that family and community support, having some time from our normally work and socializing with friends are important coping strategies for stress. It is the responsibility for individual persons to know how to cope with their stressing factors, and therefore it is necessary to conduct an analysis of the problems we experience within our surroundings to be able to adjust. My reflection on the case is that as I grew older, my relationships with other people kept on changing. I got new friends, more so those who were mature than me. I wanted to have a new experience of life despite all the challenges of growing into a mature person. Interestingly, my personal perception also continued to change, and I started viewing life differently from when I was still a child. I came to terms with the reality of life and started realizing how stress can affect the life of a person. Therefore, it has been an exciting experience collecting this information, and not only has it helped strengthen my educational standards but also the development perspective of my life. It has been beneficial indeed. Reflections in green I feel funny that she asked this question. Reflected to my grandma is in Hong Kong at the moment. She speak in Cantonese and I need to translate back to English. Annotated transcript of interview with Y – 21h April, 2013 S: Interviewer Y: Participant S: Although I have said that this is an interview but nothing more than talking about yourself. So, just relax yourself and chat with me as usual. Y: [laughs] ok! S: Ok. I should give you the consent form before we do the interview, but since we have our interview via the phone, so I have to let you know about the detail of the form before we started. Umm.. when we do research at university, we usually present the consent form before research start, this form is basically informing the use of current research and ask if it’s alright to take some details about what we are going to talk about in this interview for analysis and further research, you can stop or tell me at any point of time if you feel uncomforted about the questions. All identifying information is removed. You can tell me what you think after this interview, and see what we could do. Y: Alright. Oh I see... so this is your homework. S: Yes, this assignment focus on older adulthood and my topic is related to coping stress and resilience when encountering life stressors. I have to analyze this interview and I also have to write a reflective journal after I have done this interview, what I have done wrong, what I can do better next time… Y: I see. You are doing well so far. S: Thank you. Y : But will your teacher understand our conservation? S: haha... I think so?! Y: We are talking in Cantonese, but your homework is in English, isn’t it? S: Oh yeah.[laughs] I will translate them into english, so don’t worry grandma. S: Grandma, was there any most stressful matters been happened in your life? Emerge Themes in Red (sensible) Reflected to she is really cherish everything that she have got now. Reflected to the grandfather's stroke is the most stressful reason for her currently. Worry about grandfather and keep an eyes on him even during conversation Y: Well.. um...I cannot tell you what exactly the most stressful matters had been happened. Because it was too many. At that time my marriage would under pressure, work would also under pressure as well. But look at the current life that I have got now. I am more luckier than many people. I have got a happy big family. S: You are right grandma. I understand what are you trying to say. Everyone should contentment and treasure with what they have got now. Y: Good girl. You are more mature than before you go to study in Australia. S: Thanks grandma. In the recently, anything happened that made you feel so much stress and under pressure? Y: Sigh. Just worried about your grandfather. Since he had stroke from last year, he always need someone looking after him 24 hours! I feel refuse to leave him alone at home, even at bedroom. The maid could help him to take shower and taking care of his daily diet. But I also worried the maid would abuse your grandfather when I was not at home. It's always in happened in Hong Kong nowadays. I am too old to help. Sigh Y: Can I just go to have a look at your grandfather quickly? S: Oh Yes yes, sure of course. [After few mins…] Y: OK.. M: Do you need to get some drink? Y: Nono…I am fine. S: Great then. Grandma I would like to have a little bit more information and we will be done. Y: Oh i see i see. so how far to go ? S: Grandma, be honest it is so much better than I expected. So we will finish this conversation very soon. I know you might started to feel tired. Y: um.. actually I do feel a bit tired, but it is your assignment. I am happy to help. I am fiine! Don't worry! S: OK. Just tell me anytime if you feel tired and want to have a rest. Ok? Don’t stress yourself at all… (Recalling memories) (Happiness and pleased) (Respect and polite respond) (Sadness) (stressed) (Respect) (Respect and concern) Reflected to she is so much care of grandfather body health. She knows exactly what is stroke means. And she started to get used to my grandfather sequel. I can see that she is so pleased from her tones. (satisfaction of her existence for her children) Trying to bring grandmother back to the interview and continue our conservation. Reflected to Wednesday is quite busy for her. Because she have to do things by herself if the maid was not beside. Y: No.. I am fine. I am happy to continue. S: Grandma I feel so sorry for you. I am sorry that I cannot help you at the moment. I must come to stay with you if I am in Hong Kong. I just discovered that I haven't been talking to you for a long while since I left Hong Kong last year in June. I am sorry grandma. By the way, how is grandfather recently? Y: I know you have filial piety. Study is the most important thing for you at the moment. Don't worry too much. Actually your grandfather body health is so much better than last year. Now he is slurred speech, memories impairment and difficult walking with Hemiplegia, so he need wheelchair to help daily life. Also he feel difficult to identify the people around. Just few days ago, he had mistaken identity me and the maid! S: HaHa. I don't know would grandpa remember me still when next time I go back to Hong Kong?! Hopefully he will still remember me. Grandma, obviously you must under so much pressure everyday. So how do you relive stress? Y: Fortunately, your aunties and uncles will come to look after your grandfather on every single Sunday. I will date Mrs.Chan to go Yum Cha and play “Mahjong”. Otherwise, I will feel better when I met the grandchildren in the weekend. S: I missed the time when we went to Yum Cha. I miss you so much grandma. Y: When are you coming back to Hong Kong and when are u going to graduate? S: um... probably at the end of the year. Grandma you gotta give me a hand to finish up this transcript, however I could graduate! Haha. Lets back to the conversation! Regarding to our previous conversation, Sunday should be the most relaxing day of the week. So any day of the week is particularly under huge pressure? Y: Wednesday! The maid have day off on every single Wednesday. I have to cook dinner and looking after your grandfather. (Guilty) (Resilience and conventional) (Resilience) (Relax) (Happiness) (agitated) Grandma had found her strategies to coping stress In a hurry and cannot wait to have fun with Mrs Chan S: You cannot hang out and So how do you deal with the stress? Y: I will switch on the radio and listen to the Chinese Opera. S: haha.. I know it is your favourite hobby. Y: Okay.. well.. I gotta go to get change and have dinner with Mrs Chan tonight. S: Grandma Thank you for spending time on this interview. I will give you more call when I was free. Y: lets chat again and Yum Cha when you come back to Hong Kong. S: Okay. Say hi to grandfather for me please. Byebye Y: Bye Bye (Excited) (Respect) Read More

Being an old man, grandfather's condition of health seems to persist, and given the fact that only person who is close to him is my grandmother, she continues to experience hardships taking care of grandfather. Y: Sigh...Just worried about your grandfather. Since he had stroke from last year, he always need someone looking after him 24 hours! I feel refuse to leave him alone at home, even at bedroom..... Physical coping strategy according to the literature review entails taking care of oneself and remaining healthy as much as possible by maintaining emotional composure (Abel, 2002). There are several things an individual can perform to reduce the level of stress. They include attending parties and participating in games. Physical activity helps to clear the mind of a stressed person, increases energy and decreases the level of tension (Sitzman, 2004). My grandmother whenever she feels so much stressed up takes a walk and this helps her gain energy and the opportunity to relax in a different environment. However, she is always careful not stay away for long in fear that the maid may not care for grandfather as she expects. Y: .....But I also worried the maid would abuse your grandfather when I was not at home.... This shows how much she is concerned and appreciates the condition of her husband, who is ever on the wheelchair due to stroke. Y: ....Since he had stroke from last year, he always need someone looking after him 24 hours!... Effects of tress can be reduced through relaxation exercises. It is good to allow your mind to have a break from thinking. This may require setting aside some time whenever you are faced by stressful moments to unwind (Jackson et al, 2007). This is a coping strategy that involves an individual moving away from the stressor. For instance, after a long time of taking care of grandfather, my grandmother prefers having some time to relax with a friend. Y: Okay.. well.. I gotta go to get change and have dinner with Mrs Chan tonight The way she explains to me the condition of grandfather, it is clear to me that she is under pressure and so much stressed. She explains that my grandfather has experienced memory loss and he sometimes confuses her to be the maid, and this really disturbs my grandmother. Y: .....Now he is slurred speech, memories impairment and difficult walking with Hemiplegia, so he need wheelchair to help daily life In order to cope with these stressful moments at home, it is the reason why she chooses to go and relax her mind in a different environment in the company of her friend Mrs Chan. It is also encouraged that whenever faced by stressful moments, a person can cope with the situation by changing the source of the stress (Abel, 2002). How an individual perceives situations depend on whether or not he or she finds it to be stressful. Mental coping strategy requires an individual to constructively use the thoughts and mind to work against the effects of stress. The review emphasise the use of personal attributes to build resilience and manage stress. A person should develop an outgoing character with a positive self-esteem to be able to encounter difficult stressful moments (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, 2009). My grandmother understands that her stressing factors come from her work, family issues, and more so from the delicate condition of her husband, and this is why she is able to approach them with a positive mind. Y: ...At that time my marriage would under pressure, work would also under pressure as well... Close family bonds having members with stable emotions are useful in helping the old people to cope with stress. My grandmother enjoys family support and knows how to respond to stress, for example by listening to the radio or engaging in physical activities like play. S: You cannot hang out and So how do you deal with the stress? Y: I will switch on the radio and listen to the Chinese Opera. Many times, people panic and become overwhelmed when they encounter stressful situations. Read More