Abstract

This study, conducted by a Health Maintenance Organization in Southern California, evaluated the impact of a stress management program in reducing stress/anxiety, stressors/hassles, and perception of stressors. Impact of the program in reducing negative coping mechanisms and increasing positive coping mechanisms as well as the retention of stress management training over a three month follow-up period was examined.

A quasi-experimental -- non-equivalent control group design was used. The experimental group consisted of 54 clients who registered for stress management classes. The control group consisted of 105 matched subjects selected from a larger group of 212. All subjects were tested prior to treatment, in the sixth week of the study (posttest 1), and in the 18 th week of the study (posttest 2) with the Hassles, Coping Mechanisms, and Self-rating Anxiety Scales.

The results revealed that: 1) no significant reduction in stress occurred in the experimental group although the experimental group had increased their use of several positive coping mechanisms at the posttest 1; and 2) by the time of the posttest 2, only relaxation techniques continued to be practiced by the experimental group.

A possible explanation for these findings is that the effect of relaxation upon anxiety reduction may take place later if the subjects continue practicing relaxation. The duration of this study may not have been long enough to detect any impact of relaxation on anxiety.

The findings also showed significant relationships between changes in anxiety and changes in exercise, humor, social support, and time management, while changes in hassles were significantly related to changes in relaxation, assertiveness, short breaks, humor, time management, and eating junk food.

The results of this study provide theoretical and practical support to the planning and conducting of stress management programs by health educators.

The major recommendations were that: 1) A follow-up session should be included in the stress management program to maintain the use of positive coping mechanisms; 2) Practice sessions in the class as well as homework assignments for coping mechanisms should be included; 3) Proportions of the curriculum content devoted to practice sessions and content for each topic should be analyzed based on apparent relationships of that topic to stress reduction; 4) Once the recommended revisions of the stress management program is developed and conducted, its efficacy should be systematically evaluated. Instruments developed for this study, or additional valid instruments should be used; and 5) The Coping Mechanisms Scale developed in this study should be used along with other measures of stress for the assessment of stress in stress management programs.

School

School of Health

First Advisor

Jerry Lee

Second Advisor

Joyce Hopp

Third Advisor

Ruth White

Fourth Advisor

Gunter Reiss

Fifth Advisor

Eric Ngo

Degree Name

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Year Degree Awarded

1985

Date (Title Page)

9-1985

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Stress, Psychological -- prevention & control; Adaptation, Psychological; Patient Education

Type

Dissertation

Page Count

x; 121

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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