Dealing with stress has become an important issue in health education in community settings. With increasing demands and changes in the daily lives of families, helping children to deal with stress has become increasingly more significant in community health nursing. Nurses who want to mediate effects of stress in children need more information about stress buffers in the daily lives of children. This study attempted to identify and describe stress buffers as actually experienced by school-age children. Qualitative data were drawn from 32 well children, aged 8 through 11 years, by completion of daily semistructured journals over a period of 6 weeks. Diaries produced 764 stress buffer responses. All data were subjected to content analysis. Sixteen categories among four general themes of intrapsychic comfort, physical-social activities, social support, and physical comfort emerged, beginning a taxonomy of stress buffers as perceived by children. Interesting differences between boys and girls were identified, with implications for research and community nursing practice.
Although research has examined problems of stress and health among rural families, little is known about coping phenomena directly from the perspective of rural children. This study compared two groups of children, one rural and the other suburban, in their reports of daily stressors and coping efforts as actually experienced. Using semistructured diaries over a period of six weeks, 21 rural children and 23 suburban children reported daily sources of stress, coping efforts, and coping resources. Rural children were more compliant in completing diaries. They reported more internal, cognitive-intrapsychic source of stress, whereas suburban children listed more external environmental sources. Suburban boys reported submission as the most common coping response, and rural boys listed organized activities and problem-solving approaches. Other interesting differences between the rural and suburban children, and gender differences among both groups emerged.
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