“Unstress”: A low-cost community psychology approach to stress-management: An evaluated case study from New Zealand

Raeburn, John; Atkinson, Joan; Dubignon, Judith; McPherson, Mervyl; Elkind, Gail S.

doi:10.1002/1520-6629(199304)21:2<113::aid-jcop2290210204>3.0.co;2-r

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…In evaluating community programs, repeated stress assessments are often used to gauge effectiveness and the longevity of benefits (e.g., Raeburn et al 1993). The SOS would be more sensitive to short-term changes in stress than objective measures (which only reflect shifts in external circumstances) and more specific to such changes than other subjective measures (which, being more prone to response biases, obfuscate true change with measurement error).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Overload: A New Approach to the Assessment of Stress

Amirkhan

2011

American J of Comm Psychol

156

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The link between stress and health has not received strong empirical support, possibly due to problems in the stress measures used. Here, the first wholly empirical development of a new "Stress Overload Scale" is described. A pool of 150 items was formed to reflect "overload", a common denominator in stress theories. Then, the results of five sequenced studies, conducted in heterogeneous community samples, were used to pare the item pool. Exploratory (n = 431) and confirmatory (n = 433) analyses revealed two factors (Event Load and Personal Vulnerability) corresponding to theoretical constructs; only the best factor markers were submitted to further construct validity (n = 310) and reliability tests (n = 342). The 24 strongest items were selected for the SOS, which demonstrated criterion validity in predicting who (n = 285) would become sick following a common stressor. The SOS is (1) psychometrically strong, especially in its validity relative to popular measures; (2) appropriate to community research, due to its brevity and fit to a broad demographic spectrum; (3) unique in its ability to cross-section individuals into risk categories. It should prove useful to community psychologists in determining etiology, diagnosing risk for pathology, and evaluating the efficacy of interventions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Overload: A New Approach to the Assessment of Stress

Amirkhan

2011

American J of Comm Psychol

156

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“…Due to the collective nature of community empowerment, it is often difficult for individuals to feel the experience of empowerment directly (83). As indicated in previous studies, community empowerment is an interplay between individual and community change over a long time-frame (84). However, psychological empowerment is a construct that incorporates the person's perceptions and actions within their social context (85).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering Chinese university health service providers to become mental health champions: insights from the ACE-LYNX intervention

Wang,

Gao,

Hao

et al. 2024

Front. Psychiatry

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BackgroundEvidence shows that there is a high prevalence of mental health challenges including depression and anxiety, among Chinese university students. Providing mental health care providers with professional training is crucial to implementing effective mental health promotion initiatives in university settings. Globally, the focus of the mental health system is shifting to recovery and the importance of empowerment is increasingly being emphasized. There is a call to integrate empowerment education into professional training programs for health service providers with the goal of mobilizing them to become mental health champions capable of advancing mental health care.MethodThe ACE-LYNX (Acceptance and Commitment to Empowerment–Linking Youth and Xin i.e., “heart(s)” in Chinese) intervention took place at six universities in Jinan, Shandong Province, China. It aimed to promote mental health literacy and build capacity among mental health service providers (MHSPs) to enable them to become mental health champions at their universities and beyond. A total of 139 university MHSPs participated. We collected pre-, immediate post- and three-month-post-surveys. In addition, we recruited forty-five participants to take part in three-month- post-intervention focus group interviews to explore their experiences taking part in ACE-LYNX and applying the knowledge, skills, and insights they gained from the intervention.ResultThis paper reports on the effects of empowerment education, which is a key component of ACE-LYNX, on the MHSPs. Four themes were identified: 1) conscious awareness and behavioral change through psychological empowerment users; 2) professional insights and motivation for organizational empowerment; 3) non-self in the continuum of collective empowerment; and 4) interdisciplinary challenges and divergences in empowerment action.DiscussionWe found that it is critical to integrate empowerment education into professional training. The process of MHSPs developing their empowerment practice is characterized by their moving from individual to collective empowerment along a continuum, with organizational and collective empowerment taking place in a longer time frame. Experiential learning, empathy education, and critical reflection accelerated the continuous iterative transformative process of empowerment practices. To advance the integration of empowerment into mental health care, the engagement of organizational decision-makers and policy makers in empowerment training is critical to ensure alignment of empowerment values and competence at all levels of service provision.

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“…Evidence has suggested that these programs can result in reduction of physiological arousal level and stress indicator variables such as anxiety, as well as in increased emotional stability and fewer somatic complaints (e.g., Bunce, 1997;van der Klink, Blonk, Schene, & van Dijk, 2001). SMps typically consist of three core components: psychoeducation, skill-building in stress arousal reduction, and employee support and active problem solving (girdano, 1986;Lamontagne, Keegel, Louie, Ostry, & Landsbergis, 2007;Murphy, 1984Murphy, , 1985Raeburn, Atkinson, Dubignon, Mcpherson, & Elkind, 1993).…”

Section: Limitations Of Employer-sponsored Stress Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%