Work Stressor: Definition, Effects And Management Strategies

What is Work Stressor and its Effects on Health

Work Stressor refers to the stimuli that disrupt homeostasis as a result of the harmful physical and emotional changes that take place when there is a conflict between task demand and the capability of an employee in meeting the requirements. In other words, it refers to the environmental condition that influences stress to an individual (de Haan, 2018, p.714). The most common potential stressor in the workplace includes poor equipment, poor relationship with colleagues, inadequate time to handle a task, insufficient knowledge about assigned responsibility, organizational change, and lack of appreciation among many others.

When a body is exposed to stress, the hypothalamus: that is responsible for the charge of the stress response sends a signal to the adrenal medulla and pituitary glands. The two produces either fight or flight responses through Sympathomedullary Pathway and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal system (Lemolo, Seiglie, Blasio, Cottone and Sabino, 2016, p.3270).  The produced adrenaline causes the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system and reduces the activity parasympathetic nervous system leading to the increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and pulse, sweating of the body, improved breathing and decreased digestive activity.

When a body is exposed to stress, the hypothalamus activates the production of such as dopamine which is linked to depression (Vasile, 2017, p.406). The hormone tends to regulate biological processes such as appetite, sleep, sex drive moods and emotions hence affecting the social nature of a person.

Identify potential long-term effects of stress on health

Prolonged stress especially psychological have a significant side effect on the body since the long-term activation of the stress-response system puts cortisol and other stress hormones to always disrupt the body system hence resulting in various diseases(Leon-Perez,Wallston,Goggins,Poppndeck and Kripalani, 2016,p.442). Stress causes dieses such as cardiovascular, mental, cancer, obesity, and other eating disorder, sexual dysfunction, skin and hair problems, and gastrointestinal problems

Discuss the strategies/services available in health that can help the nurse manage stress

Nurses encounter always work hard to provide good healthcare to patients; however, most of them tend to face work-related stress. Some of the common causes of stress are the long working hours, patient emergencies, patient’s stubbornness, doctor’s tempers, and physically demanding tasks (Duran, 2015, p.5). Unless these stresses are properly managed, patients tend to receive poor services leading to a high rate of morbidity and mortality. The common strategies used include cognitive -behavioral intervention emotional and psychological therapies.

The cognitive-behavioral intervention was developed by Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis with a purpose to increase the emotional self-management of the nurses. Through the intervention, nurses can change the things they can change and accept those that they cannot change as it targets their cognitive process (Lopez, Chaves, Hervas and Vazquez, 2017, p.1030). The intervention is based on the theory of emotions and behaviors since these two are affected by thoughts hence having positive thoughts helps in reducing stress. To use the model, one follows the A.B.C that stands for Activating event, Belief, and Consequences. The Activating event entails identification of what happened to trigger the emotional change, and then one writes it down. Belief comprises personal thoughts about the self and others demand and are always rational or irrational. Then at the consequences entails the outcome such as anxieties that are also listed down and an evaluation is done.

Potential Long-term Effects of Work Stressor on Health

Psychological therapies include treatment for depressions that help the individual to change the thinking patterns and cope up with stress. The major therapies include behavioral, cognitive and humanistic. The therapies help the nurses to make good design such as changing of the task and work approaches to ones that do not expose them to stress and even have social support.

Services available that help nurses in managing stress include the NSW health policy for Employee Assistance Programs that are mandatory for all health organizations. The employee assistance program requires that the entire employee receive timely, professional and confidential counseling and referral services whenever such need arises.

1.    Provide a brief outline of self-care techniques including
2. a)    Impact of exercise – physical activity helps in reducing stress through stimulating neurotransmitters and endorphins that help in reducing stress and increasing cognitive function, alertness and concentration of the body that makes the person feel better(Patnaik,2014,p.283). Diet and nutrition help to reduce stress through Stress-Busting Foods such as warm oatmeal boost levels of serotonin that calms the brain.
3. b)    Work-life balance strategies help in maintain professional and personal life helps in reducing stress through strategies such as tracking personal time, determination of priorities, setting of specific goals and taking care of personal health(Carton and Fruchart,2014,p.246).
4. c)    Complementary and alternative health options entail personalized activities that help in reducing stress such as aromatherapy, Ayurveda and homeopathy. These strategies help in increasing the blood flow, stabilizing the mind hence reducing the level of stress.
5.    Describe three stressors that may result in grief or loss
6. a)    Occupational stressors such as non-ergonomic working conditions resulting in the pull of muscles, tendons, and ligaments result into spinal cord disease that causes death (Humboldt, 2013, p.412).
7. b)    The poor relationship in workplace results in emotional distress such as anger, depression, and irritability. The prolonged exposure leads to elevation of blood pressure, shortness of breath those results into death.
8. c)    Distant stressor entails stress that might have taken place a long time ago such as losing a loved one, or child abuse attend tend to affect the immune system of the body. The continuous attack on the immune system renders it weak to handle any virus such as HIV leading to death.
9.    Identify the potential sources of stress from the following situations and briefly discuss how you would manage your stress in the situations identified   

1. a)    The complex medical condition is a condition that entails numerous morbidities, and requires the attention of multiple health care providers such as functional limitations, stroke among many others and is always daunting and stressful (Judd, Dorozenko and Breen, 2017, p.1111). I will manage such conditions firth through accepting and adjusting to the new limitation that the condition has put me into and start to manage the emotions through engaging other people with the same problem to get encouraged and gain adaptability methods. 

1. b)    The stressful working condition for example when the method is not working properly, or the machine has broken down; I will manage the stress by changing the work approach or request for a new functioning machine.
2.    Describe how you would manage a situation where a staff member is misbehaving towards you.

In such a situation, I will try to listen and understand the reason why they are misbehaving toward me since I might be the facilitator. In case that I am the cause of such behavior, then I will reform and communicate to then appropriately to make them understand the impact of their behaviors and the need to change the bad behaviors, not forgetting the consequences of refusal.

1.    Review the workplace rights according to the Fair work Acts, identify what is considered unlawful for a worker under the Fair Work Act

Fair Work Act was passed by the Australian government under the government of Rudd and aims to maintain the relationship between the employee and employer from recruitment to resignation or dismissal. The unlawful acts by workers that are pointed out in the Act include: causing physical or structural damages to the employer and the organization through physical and verbal violence, employees to intentionally cause production problems to the organization such missing or intentionally failing to achieve the desired goal among many others  

List of References

Carton, A. and Fruchart, E. (2014) ‘Sources of stress, coping strategies, emotional experience: effects of the level of experience in primary school teachers in France’, Educational Review, 66(2), pp. 245–262. doi: 10.1080/00131911.2013.769937.

de Haan, S. (2018) ‘A comparison of work stressors in higher and lower resourced emergency medicine health settings’, CJEM: Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine, 20(5), pp. 713–720. doi: 10.1017/cem.2018.14.

Duran, L. (2015) ‘Current Trends in Stress Management’, MEDSURG Nursing, p. 5. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=113313812&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 18 October 2018).

Humboldt, S.  (2013) ‘Examining Occupational Stress, Sources of Stress and Stress Management Strategies through the Eyes of Management Consultants: A Multiple Correspondence Analysis for Latent Constructs’, Stress & Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 29(5), pp. 410–420. doi: 10.1002/smi.2487.

Judd, M. J., Dorozenko, K. P. and Breen, L. J. (2017) ‘Workplace stress, burnout and coping: a qualitative study of the experiences of Australian disability support workers’, Health & Social Care in the Community, 25(3), pp. 1109–1117. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12409.

Lemolo, A, Seiglie, M, Blasio, A, Cottone, P & Sabino (2016) ‘Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in the central nucleus of the amygdala induces anxiety via melanocortin receptors’, Psychopharmacology, 233(17), pp. 3269–3277. doi: 10.1007/s00213-016-4366-y.

León-Pérez, G, Wallston, K, Goggins, K, Poppendeck, H & Kripalani (2016) ‘Effects of stress, health competence, and social support on depressive symptoms after cardiac hospitalization’, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 39(3), pp. 441–452. doi: 10.1007/s10865-015-9702-x.

Lopez, GI, Chaves, C, Hervas, G & Vazquez (2017) ‘Comparing the acceptability of a positive psychology intervention versus a cognitive behavioural therapy for clinical depression’, Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 24(5), pp. 1029–1039. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2129.

Patnaik, G. (2014) ‘Life Skill Enhancement Strategies to Minimize Stress’, Social Science International, 30(2), pp. 281–289. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=98976151&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 18 October 2018).

VASILE, T. (2017) ‘The Relation between Psychosomatics, Negative Emotions and Perceived Stress -A Multidisciplinary Approach’, Romanian Journal of Experimental Applied Psychology, 8, pp. 405–409. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=130632891&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 18 October 2018).