Do Stress Management Courses Work?
Our fast-paced lifestyle and environment that presents plenty of complications often lead to stressful lives. Studies have suggested that many of our health problems can be traced directly or indirectly to stress. As a result of this study, stress management courses are becoming widely popular as a method that would allow us to cope better with the pressures of living.
Stress management courses catering to the needs of organizations and individuals have been introduced. At present, the bulk of these programs are intended to address needs of individuals. Some of the more important techniques of stress management are: Stress Management skills which include education and training, meditation, relaxation, counseling, exercise, conflict resolution and others. These techniques can be combined with one another to form a program suited to the needs of individuals depending on the diagnosis of the therapists.
There have been a few efforts to determine the efficacy of stress management programs and techniques. Bruning and Frew conducted an experiment using a control group and techniques where combined in a variety of ways. The first control group was given an educational program but without a skills training program and the result was not quite encouraging. The next control group was given Skills training and Meditation techniques and they displayed remarkable reduction in depression, hostility and anxiety. The authors experimented with other combinations and came to the conclusion that there were combinations that were more effective than others. There was no apparent effect on job stress and blood pressure among the members of the control group while the other groups experienced reductions.
Carrington and associates conducted a similar research using meditation and relaxation to reduce depression, anger, hostility and other symptoms, and found out that meditation is superior to relaxation. This can be attributed to the fact that meditation involves a depth of self of examination that is greater than the one involved in mere relaxation
There are other researches that show the effectiveness of stress management courses although results vary widely on which combinations are most useful. Some more research was done by Peterson and West and pointed out that combined cognitive behavioral skills are found wanting compared to single interventions. In contrast satisfying results were found among those who have received skills and information compared to those receiving information only.
The favorable results of these experiments have led to calls for application of stress management programs in organizational levels. Some actually exist although not formally recognized as such. Conflict management employed by business institutions are basically part of stress management as well as recreational and team building activities to unwind and promote camaraderie. Human resource departments also feature some form of counseling services.
The practice of business organizations to involve more people in decision making process through periodic planning and regular consultations is a sort of a stress management strategy- besides being a logical management tool to tap latent talents and skills of employees. It provides employees with opportunity to clarify roles, relationships, functions, and expectations. This reduces the possibility of future problems and lessens stress in the wok place.
There are enough evidences to suggest that stress management actually work, that people can adapt by simply looking at things in a different way – the positive way.