Managing Stress and Preventing Burnout

1. CHAPTER 14 Stress and Burnout

2. The nature of stress • Emotional and physiological aspects of stress: Selye’s stage theory • Alarm reaction • Resistance • Exhaustion • The nature of stressors • They are intense and/or overwhelming: overload • They evoke simultaneous incompatible tendencies • They are uncontrollable • Cognitive appraisal of an event as stressful • Perception that the situation threatens important goals • Perception that effective coping isn’t possible

3. Major causes of stress • Work-related causes: heat, noise, crowding, danger, lack of privacy • Social conditions: high level of politics, abusive or uncaring management atmosphere, discrimination, and harassment • Occupational demands: highly stressful occupations • Frequent decisions • Constant monitoring of devices or materials • Repeated exchanges of information with others • Unpleasant physical conditions • Performing unstructured rather than structured tasks • Jobs that create problems for one’s relationships at home

4. Major causes of stress • Multiple roles • Family stressors versus work stressors: gender differences • Drawbacks: role conflicts, divided attention and energy, increasing backlogs both inside and outside the work setting • Benefits: new areas of autonomy, control, self-definition, personal satisfaction, and social support • The benefits of working are evident for wives only when their husbands share family responsibilities.

5. Major causes of stress • Types of role conflict • Inter-role conflict • Person-role conflict • Within-role conflict • Overload and underload • Qualitative and quantitative overload • Qualitative and quantitative underload • The desirability of the “middle course”

6. Major causes of stress • Responsibility for others • Isolation and the lack of social support: advice, comfort, help, sense of perspective • Unemployment: uncertainty, financial strain, loss of self-esteem, concern with loss of esteem from others, sense of helplessness, depression

7. Personal factors and stress • Stressful life events and physical illness • Daily hassles: You’re on your own • Individual differences in resistance to stress • Optimism as a buffer against stress: problem-focused coping, seeking social support, taking a time out from other activities • Gender and ethnic differences: Women report stronger positive and negative emotions and rely more on social support. Hispanics have both a social and a health advantage. • Attitudes and stress (see the list on page 414 of the text)

8. Life events: some are more stressful than others

9. Stress: some important effects • Stress and physical health: 50-70% of physical illnesses are stress-related, including heart disease, ulcers, and diabetes • Stress and mental health: anxiety, depression, irritation, anger, fatigue, reduced feelings of competence, self-worth, and job satisfaction, and a sense of helplessness • Stress and behavior at work: impaired performance of complicated tasks, poor decision making, increased absenteeism, turnover, alcohol and drug abuse

11. Stress: some important effects • Stress and physical health: 50-70% of physical illnesses are stress-related, including heart disease, ulcers, and diabetes • Stress and mental health: anxiety, depression, irritation, anger, fatigue, reduced feelings of competence, self-worth, and job satisfaction, and a sense of helplessness • Stress and behavior at work: impaired performance of complicated tasks, poor decision making, increased absenteeism, turnover, alcohol and drug abuse

12. Burnout • Burnout begins with disillusionment: you can’t change things much, each day is the same old routine, each day brings more stress and more problems • Physical exhaustion: headache, nausea, poor sleep, loss of energy and loss of appetite • Emotional exhaustion: depression, emotional numbness, feelings of helplessness and feeling trapped, low sense of accomplishment

13. Burnout • Major causes of burnout • Prolonged exposure to stress • Problems with the way the organization functions • Conditions implying that your effects are useless, futile, ineffective, unrecognized, and unappreciated • Supervisors who don’t show consideration • Personal factors: taking the job too seriously, working in helping professions, being a hypercontroller, not having a communal orientation

14. Burnout • Major effects of burnout • Giving up and seeking new jobs or careers • Taking a desk job within the same profession • Countering the effects of burnout • Seeking increased social support • Developing hobbies and outside interests • Relaxation strategies: short breaks, exercise, meditation, power naps • List of recommendations on page 421

15. Techniques for managing stress • Being married or having another strong social support network • Maintaining a healthy lifestyle: getting regular physical exercise, eating right, avoiding drug and alcohol abuse • Using effective coping techniques: emotional coping, mental coping, active behavioral coping • Getting control of emotions: relaxation training, deep breathing, meditation, biofeedback training