Category: Stress

Introduction

The following study will highlight how fiscal stress manifests itself in different states and municipalities, and how best it can be dealt with to avoid negative affect on the public. The public should not be deprived of essential services that should be provided to them by states and municipalities in times of fiscal stress.

Impact of fiscal stress on states

Fiscal stress in various states can be measured using certain indicators which are budgetary, service oriented, cash and long term. Fiscal stress is categorized into various groups which are low, medium and high level. To combat fiscal stress, the States can embark on short and long term measures.

Short term measures include cuts on expenditure, increase in taxation, and use of rainy days’ funds. The only solution that has been found to be more effective in the reduction of fiscal stress for states is balancing financial expenditure and revenue. The impact of fiscal stress on the States mainly affects delivery of services to the public. The most affected service is usually the provision of security to the public by a given state.

Other impacts of fiscal stress on states include failure by the latter to initiate development initiatives or projects, reduced health care services, and neglect of community based initiatives like health education. Fiscal stress can lay a lot of burden on the financial position of any state. Increased expenditure and global financial crises are major challenges to states.

Impact of fiscal stress on municipalities

Organs of California Municipality have been forced to cut down on their expenses. Job losses are experienced due to the economic recession which has also affected the state. Worst still, the California Local Government Machinery has been constrained in terms of the level of public services it can offer to the public due to shortage in financial revenue, and lack of fiscal ability to meet various financial needs (Marvin & Betty, 1993).

The effect of fiscal stress on municipalities is seen in a number of ways which include reduced funding for development initiatives like recreation parks. Other effects comprise poor maintenance of streets, roads, libraries and public parks. Other municipal responsibilities that are abdicated include animal controls. Security services are affected due to reduction in surveillance and police patrols. Water and sewer services are sometimes not given adequate financial resources.

Strategies that municipalities can use to mitigate fiscal stress

There are several ways in which local governments can mitigate fiscal stress. However, these ways can be subject to regulations that are governed by state or federal laws. These regulations control the extent to which the adjustments can be stretched. This would allow bridging the gap between expenditure and revenue (Dezhbakhsh et al, 2003).

In municipalities, the impact of fiscal stress manifests itself in terms of freezes on employees’ salaries as was evidenced in the municipality of California some years back. Employees’ health benefits are sometimes delayed by municipal governments. Pensions for retirees may not be disbursed in time. Municipalities can also freeze the hiring of employees.

Benefits of new employees can be reduced marginally. Some municipalities have in the past provided incentives to employees for an early retirement. Municipalities can also be forced to stop remitting funds for the rainy days’ fund. In very extreme cases, employees’ wages can be reduced. Restructuring of departments is another initiative that municipalities can employ to reduce fiscal stress (Gold, 1992).

Departments can be reduced and some employees can be retrenched. Municipalities can also raise fees for business permits and parking of motor vehicles. It is worth noting that municipalities can raise any fees depending on the kind of charges various municipalities levy, for instance, property taxes.

Strategies states can use to mitigate fiscal stress

Reduction of expenditure is one of the major ways in which states and local governments can opt for in reducing fiscal stress. This can be done by evaluating expenses that are deemed to be urgent and the ones that can be postponed. This could include short term and long term projects and budget proposals. In 2009, the US government reduced spending by 0.6 per cent in 2008 and by 1.9 per cent in 2009.

This came as a result of the recession that was being experienced at that time. During the same time, local governments for the first time since 1970 were forced to reduce their workforce as a way of dealing with the financial crisis. Local governments cut their labour force by an estimated 1.7 per cent translating into the laying off of 241,000 employees during the recession period.

Delays in disbursement of funds for retirees and pension can mitigate financial or fiscal stress. Governments opt for this solution since federal laws are not obliged to make annual contributions towards these allocations unless local employees are covered in the same bracket. This appears as a safer solution since the government does not prefer to cut on services or increase taxes since that would lead to a major outcry from the majority of its citizens.

However, this delay may ultimately prove to be challenging since there can be a breakdown in the system at some point. Local governments can borrow to manage fiscal stress. Borrowing is more or less the same as delaying payments; it only postpones the problem. Expenses may increase overtime as a result of debt-service costs.

There are major forms of borrowing which include the use of short-term debts to fund operating deficits and the use of long-term ones to fund capital expenses or contributions to pension or health care funds (Robert & Daniel, 2008). States rainy days’ funds have been more vivid since the 1980s with 48 states currently using some form of budget stabilization funds.

Conclusion: Impact and strategies of fiscal stress in California

In California, the main sources of revenue for local governments are various forms of taxes levied on various entities. These comprise business taxes, utility taxes, property taxes, taxes on fines, sales taxes, vehicle registration taxes, corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, and gasoline taxes. Due to increased spending of its local governments, California State faces a lot of financial problems (Sobel & Randall, 1996).

During recession, California State was compelled to cut down on certain forms of spending at the expense of the public. In this case, it was evident that the fiscal crisis was never brought about by lack of revenue growth but rather due to recurring variability of the states’ revenue sources. Due to the resurgence of fiscal crisis over the years, California State’s level of inefficiency and lack of cost effectiveness have yielded a lot of pressure on the healthcare system.

This is mainly evident on institutional fiscal stress such as healthcare which has experienced costly antipsychotic medications. There are also instances in which local governments in California State have endured a lot of pressure in their attempt to adopt various budgetary strategies (Lauth, 2003). Fiscal stress has obliged California State’s government to cut down on its expenses while a number of public servants have been laid off.

Employees of the private sector have also been affected by the same (Todd & Victor, 1982). Fiscal stress can, therefore, bring about joblessness in any given country. It can also mean lack of funds for public schools. Key state organs especially those that are charged with delivery of vital services like water, can also be affected (Chaney et al, 2002). California State has delayed disbursement of pension funds to beneficiaries as another measure to curb fiscal stress, according to a study carried out by Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper.

The research carried out goes further to show that there is now ease in fiscal stress for local government organs in California State. These changes and positive outlook of California state‘s government organs have been as a result of growing optimism about the developments and growth of the state’s economy.

California State needs to embrace better management strategies in averting occurrences related to fiscal stress. Proper planning and well constituted policy frameworks remain to be crucial aspects in avoiding fiscal stress for many states and governments.

Percentages of municipal revenues consumed by pensions in California State

References

Chaney et al. (2002). The Effect of Fiscal Stress and Balanced Budget Requirements on the Funding and Measurement of State Pension Obligations. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 21 (4-5), 287-313.

Dezhbakhsh et al. (2003). A New Approach for Testing Budgetary Incrementalism. The Journal of Politics, 65 (2), 532-558.

Gold, S. D. (1992). The Federal Role in State Fiscal Stress. Publius Journal, 22 (3), 33-47.

Lauth, T. P. (2003). Budgeting during a Recession Phase of the Business Cycle: The Georgia Experience. Public Budgeting & Finance Journal, 23 (2), 26-38.

Marvin, J., & Betty, D. R. (1993). States’ Responses to Budget Shortfalls: Cutback Management Techniques. In Handbook of Comparative Public Budgeting and Financial Management, edited by T. D. Lynch and L. L. Martin. New York, USA: Marcel Drekker.

Robert, S., & Daniel, J. W. (2008). State Investment Tax Incentives: A Zero-Sum Game. Journal of Public Economics, 92 (12), 2362-2384.

Sobel, R. S., & Randall, G. H. (1996). The Impact of State Rainy Day Funds in Easing State Fiscal Crises During the 1990-1991 Recession. Public Budgeting & Finance Journal, 16 (3), 28-48.

Todd, D., & Victor, V. M. (1982). The Management of Hard Times: Budget Cutbacks in Public Sector Organizations. Journal of Organization Studies, 3 (2), 141-169.

The retention of college students and degree completion is a significant problem for colleges and institutions. Sources of public, state, and federal funding for higher education are more than ever predicated on college achievement as measured by graduation rates. Institutions of higher education must devise, implement, and acknowledge this reality to support student success. There is an excellent association between stress to deviance, arguably the distraction factor to achieving such success in college education. This paper analyzes the association between stress and deviance in colleges while seeking to answer some main concepts, theories, research methods, controversies, inconsistencies, and unanswered questions.

One of the factors that cause deviance in school can be explained by the causes of stress among students, particularly in colleges. The classical strain theory can best explain the association between stress and deviance in college education. According to the traditional strain hypothesis, deviation is more likely to happen if one’s culturally established objectives for financial success and the ability to realize those aspirations are incompatible (Zhang, 2019). This theory provides that deviance occurs when there is a disconnect between goals and the ability to achieve them. In colleges, several factors create a disconnect between the dreams of college students and their abilities which causes deviation from their studies. Such factors summarize what stress is; in other words, stress creates a barrier for students hampering their abilities to achieve their dreams.

The other concept of the connection between deviance and stress is the stress factors. On its own, stress is the body’s and mind’s reaction to demands placed on it. It is the outcome of how people respond to outside events; it is not always a function of the events themselves. The breakdown of people’s capacity to manage life’s demands results in negative stress. The stress chemicals remain in the blood if they do not break them through media such as physical exercises and therapy that keeps the body from relaxing. Since stress is a significant concept in deviance, as determined in the discussion above, it is vital to understand what stress factors are for college students who cause deviance for them. Students have cited reasons such as poor housing, examination deadlines, tuition debts, balancing school work and paid work, domestic issues at home, and relationship breakups, among other factors. Stress is a significant concept in understanding its role in raising barriers to goal achievement hence deviance in college education.

There are controversial findings that can have theoretical explanations concerning stress as a factor in college deviance. One of the controversial issues emerging from research studies is that students are powerless over life stressors which many scholars may find untrue. According to the Threat Appraisal and Coping Theory, when people face stressors, they feel helpless to change them, resulting in maladaptive coping alias deviant actions. A study examining the relationship between five deviant behaviors and their association with powerlessness determined that life stressors are directly associated with the increment in watching porn, medication misuse, cross-dressing, and other maladaptive behaviors (Black & Hendy, 2019). When students get stressed, they engage in deviant behaviors after feeling that they are very powerless against their situations. In the more significant part, this may not be true, as can be explained by other theorists.

Several research methods have been used in studying deviance as a behavior among college students. Literature reviews, surveys, interviews, focused group discussions, secondary data analysis, longitudinal studies, and mixed methods have been deployed to understand the concepts of deviance and its relationship to stressors. One such study is a longitudinal study that examined adolescents’ tolerance to deviance. The study that builds on previous literature reveals shocking inconsistencies on this topic. The results reveal that compared to abstainers, adolescents with a higher tolerance for deviance were more likely to be a part of any smoking trajectory group (Macy et al., 2019). It is awkward to establish through research that students with more deviant behaviors like smoking are more tolerant of deviance than those who are not.

Many researchers have worked on several projects concerning stress and deviance. In doing so, they have endeavored to answer many pertinent questions pertaining to what stress is, what deviance is, and the relationship between the two. Further examinations prove that these two parameters have been investigated among college students. However, some questions are yet to be answered. Management of stressors and the consequent effects on deviance among college students is yet to be investigated.

To further make the potential studies even more interesting, incorporating the concept of technology would be intriguing. In the wake of a techno-savvy world, one research study investigated the efficacy of a mindfulness meditation app, which yielded to be effective. Many students in the intervention group registered calm against stress to limit the effects (Huberty et al., 2019). The study provides evidence that it is possible to deploy technology to reduce stress among college students to reduce deviance. Since such studies have yet to be implemented, it forms a grey area to guide future research.

References

Black, P., & Hendy, H. M. (2019). Perceived powerlessness as a mediator between life stressors and deviant behaviors.Deviant Behavior, 40(9), 1080–1089. Web.

Huberty, J., Green, J., Glissmann, C., Larkey, L., Puzia, M., & Lee, C. (2019). Efficacy of the mindfulness meditation mobile app “calm” to reduce stress among college students: Randomized controlled trial. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(6), e14273. DOI: 10.2196/14273

Macy, J. T., O’Rourke, H. P., Seo, D. C., Presson, C. C., & Chassin, L. (2019). Adolescent tolerance for deviance, cigarette smoking trajectories, and premature mortality: A longitudinal study.Preventive medicine, pp. 119, 118-123. Web.

Zhang, J. (2019). The strain theory of suicide. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, p. 13. Web.

Introduction

The following is a discussion on the posttraumatic stress disorder, a mental condition that comes after an individual experiences traumatic circumstance.

This essay looks into the history, the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, and the individuals who are likely to suffer from this condition, psychological problems associated with this condition and the treatment of the disorder.

History

The posttraumatic stress disorder is an extreme anxiety condition that develops because of exposure to psychological trauma. It is an enduring stress reaction. This condition was first identified in the sixth century and has been associated with soldiers.

In the nineteenth century, medical professionals working with the military noted that military officers in the front lines usually had exhaustion after battle. This was characterized by an extreme fatigue and mental shutdown (Kelleher, 2008).

The terminology used for reference at first was that of gross stress reaction but after the world war two and the Vietnam War other terms were used to explain the disorder.

However, as time evolved and diagnosis of this condition in non-military individuals exposed to trauma was observed medical professionals referred the condition as posttraumatic stress disorder (Fullerton, 2004).

Symptoms

The following are some of the symptoms that people diagnosed with the condition experience. The first one is that the victims experience a recurrent of the trauma. They usually have trouble-some memories of the experience when they sleep or nightmares.

During the day, the individual may daydream or experience flashbacks of the traumatic event. The condition becomes posttraumatic stress disorder when it persists for a period of more than one month (Kelleher, 2008).

Excessive phobia of events or places associated with the traumatic experience also characterizes the condition. This involves avoidance to places, people, and things that remind the sufferer of the experience.

The third symptom involves having sleeping problems where the individual is unable to sleep. The sufferer also experiences very poor memory and low concentration as the mind is always disturbed.

The individuals suffering from this condition are usually absentminded most of the times and they display high sensitivity to touch or when startled.

They are also extremely watchful to threats. The individual suffering from the posttraumatic stress disorder gets angry quickly. They may have impulsive emotions especially when angry and they may be extremely aggressive (Fullerton, 2004).

The fourth symptom is adehonia; this is an extreme disinterest in what a person previously enjoyed. When one is suffering from this disorder, one becomes extremely reserved, and avoids people.

The victims also fail to make any future or long-term plan as they live in fear and anxiety that they might not live tomorrow. This condition is further associated with feelings of hopelessness, a general dislike for life and suicidal thoughts (Yehuda, 2001).

Whom It Affects

The groups of people affected by this disorder are individuals who have experienced traumatic events in their childhood or adult hood. These may involve physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

The second group of people who experience the traumatic disorders may include employees who work in occupations related to war or violence. This mostly includes soldiers and relief or emergency workers in battle zones (Fullerton, 2004).

People or patients diagnosed with the chronic or terminal illness may also experience the condition. People who have suffered from accidents or witnessed their loved ones in physical injuries are also likely to suffer from this condition. The other predisposing factor of this condition is genetic.

There are individuals who have high arousal tendency and adrenaline surges than others because of their genetic makeup (Fullerton, 2004). Such individuals have a higher likelihood of suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.

Children from foster families or under foster care are likely or have a higher tendency or likelihood to suffer from this condition mainly because they may be exposed to physical abuse or bitter memories, which separated them from their parents (Kelleher, 2008).

Psychological Problems and Treatment

The first psychological problem experienced by people who are suffering from posttraumatic stress is that of having a re-experience of the traumatic event. The thought of seeing a psychiatrist usually never appears safe and many of the patients fear stigmatization especially the soldiers.

The first step towards treatment of this psychological disorder is by educating the patient on what they are suffering from.

This involves having a one on one session where the therapist can inform them of the disorder and other patients who have suffered from the same condition and recovered to make them come to terms with the condition and to stop them from living in denial.

The second treatment is engaging the patient with a psychotherapist. The psychotherapy session is an interview where the therapist asks the patient questions and explanations about what they have experienced.

This helps the therapist to have a structured memory of the traumatic event. It also helps the patient to have a sense of relief by talking about the traumatic experience.

The other treatment involves having targeted interventions. These interventions also refer to the cognitive behavior therapy. It is training the mind to accept those experiences and teaching it to cope with such traumatic memories by helping the individual to overcome avoidance.

These psychological procedures are directed to assist the individual to stop avoidance behaviors. It involves helping the individual to identify the thoughts or the stimuli that makes them afraid. It also involves training the individuals to replace the distressing thoughts with less distressing thoughts (Kelleher 2008).

By exposing the individual to stimuli that triggers the memory of those events, the individual learns how to cope with thoughts of fear and anger.

This psychological procedure involves the individuals, for example war survivors or soldiers, watching a video on war together with a therapist who guides them on how to react to certain incidences that they are uncomfortable or nervous about.

This helps the patients to come to terms with the traumatic event and enables them to do away with avoidance tendencies (Yehuda, 2001).

The other therapy is the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It involves having the therapist assisting the patient to talk about the traumatic event while the patient is looking at the therapist’s rapidly moving finger (Kelleher, 2008).

This therapy is especially helpful to patients who are experiencing low concentration and lapse in memory because of the posttraumatic stress disorder. It helps the patients to regain their concentration and alertness especially if they have been experiencing daydreams.

Although some researchers dispute this mode of treatment, it has nevertheless been effective in PTSD recovery (Kelleher, 2008).

The other psychological treatment of the posttraumatic stress disorder is the interpersonal therapy. The interpersonal psychotherapy involves having the patients in support groups such as family support groups that assist the patient to share the traumatic experience (Kelleher, 2008).

The support groups also link the patients with other patients and people who have recovered from the condition. Such support helps the patients to accept their condition and to realize that it is treatable and one can recover from the condition after the treatment (Yehuda, 2001).

Other than having the psychological procedural treatment, patients suffering from the posttraumatic stress condition can recover by having medical assistance. The victims may be given particular drugs to deal with loss of sleep and hypersensitivity.

The drugs include antidepressants such as fluexetine and paroxetine (Kelleher, 2008). Other forms of drugs include adrenergic antagonists that aim at reducing hyper-arousal in the patients by containing the adrenaline and nightmare experiences.

These drugs are effective when administered for a period of more than one year. The other drugs usually administered in the treatment of the posttraumatic disorder are the mood stabilizers that help the patient to be calm; they also significantly reduce sleep disturbances (Yehuda, 2001).

Conclusion

The posttraumatic stress disorder is a condition, which has troubled many people but has not received due attention especially in the treatment of non-war patients. As a result, it leads to mental illness if it is not addressed early enough.

An individual suffering from this condition especially the soldiers must stop fearing stigma and seek treatment before this condition worsens. There are different medical procedures for this disorder and they differ because different patients experience the symptoms differently.

However, for the practitioner to diagnose or to consider the individual exhibiting such symptoms as suffering from the posttraumatic stress disorder, the individual must have experienced the symptoms for one month.

The posttraumatic disorder has treatments that are both psychological and medical. Applying both psychological and medical procedures to deal with the condition is necessary for the treatment procedures to have the desired outcome.

References

Fullerton, C. (2004). Acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression in disaster or rescue workers. American Journal of Psychiatry, 11, 1370-1376.

Kelleher, I. (2008). Associations between childhood traumas, bullying, and psychotic symptoms among a school-based adolescent sample. Britain’s Journal of Psychiatry, 5, 378-382.

Yehuda, R. (2001). Biology of posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 7, 41-46.

Introduction

Stress is the emotional strain or tension experienced by an individual due to a reaction toward various demanding and influential situations. The challenging or compelling situations are termed stressors. Stressors can be internal or external and include life changes such as losing a significant figure, low socioeconomic status, relationship problems, occupational challenges, and familial or environmental factors. An individual’s response to stressors influences the outcome of their life. Health is a state of complete social, emotional, and physical well-being and not merely the absence of disease. Stress is a common risk factor for negative health status secondary to negative adaptation and coping with the stressors. Stressors can create a strain on one’s physical, psychological and behavioral well-being, leading to lasting effects that are detrimental to one’s health.

Physical Effects

Stress is associated with various physical health impacts on an individual. In an online cross-sectional survey by Keech et al. (2020) to determine the association between stress and the physical and psychological health of police officers, the findings illustrate that stress negatively impacts physical and psychological well-being. One hundred and thirty-four police officers were involved in the study (Keech et al., 2020). The findings demonstrate that stress resulted in various short and long-term physical effects that included increased heart rates, sweating, high blood pressure, and long-term development of the cardiac condition. In addition, stress resulted in the development of gastrointestinal disorders such as peptic ulcer and irritable bowel syndrome. Keech et al. (2020) note that stress’s associated physical health effects are explained by various mechanisms that include overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis.

Overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system results in increased sympathetic actions on the peripheral body organs leading to increased sweat production, heart rate, respiration rate, and urinary and bowel elimination. The study notes that chronic stress without positive adaptation measures results in the progressive development of hypertension, peptic ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome as long-term effects (Keech et al., 2020). Within the gastrointestinal tract, chronic stress activity on the sympathetic nervous system results in increased parietal cell action. Overactivity of the parietal cells results in excessive gastric acid production, gradually eroding the mucosa, and ulceration occurs.

The effects of stress on the cardiovascular system are explained in a review by Kivimäki & Steptoe (2017) to determine the impact of stress on the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. In the review, stress is identified to cause cardiovascular conditions secondary to the effects of sustained sympathetic action on heart contractility and peripheral vascular resistance (Kivimäki & Steptoe, 2017). The sympathetic nervous system contributes to normal heart and blood vessel contractility. However, when the system is overstimulated, a surge in contractility above the normal limits ensues, leading to the progressive development of heart conditions.

Psychological Effects

Psychological well-being incorporates a positive mental health status evidenced by an individual’s satisfaction with life, happiness, rational thinking and decision-making, and positive mood patterns. Stress has been associated with alterations in an individual’s psychological wellness. An explanation for alteration in an individual’s psychological well-being secondary to stress is negative adaptation. Keech et al. (2020) note that an individual’s response to a stressor determines whether stress results in positive or negative effects. In the online cross-sectional survey by Keech et al. (2020), the findings illustrate that pressure resulted in the development of anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorders as long-term effects among the participants. Exposure to stressful situations resulted in progressively developing anxiety among the individual secondary to persistent worry over the issue. The anxiety results in other physical manifestations, including increased heart rate, palpitations, sweating, and altered mobility. Depression and bipolar conditions were also associated with chronic stress secondary to the impacts of stress on neurotransmitter function and nerves.

Similar findings are noted in a cross-sectional study by Zhang et al. (2020) to compare the prevalence and severity of stress-associated mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and insomnia among healthcare workers during the COVID pandemic. Five hundred and twenty-four healthcare workers were involved in the study. The study findings illustrate that 31.3% of the participants developed depression secondary to the stressful working environment, 41.2% reported anxiety, and 39.3% reported sleep disturbances (Zhang et al., 2020). The scientific explanation for the relationship between stress and depression was attributed to the effects of stressful periods on neurotransmitter homeostasis. Chronic stress results in the altered regulation of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system. Alterations in serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine resulted in the progressive development of depression and anxiety. Sleep disturbances reported by the participants are attributed to alterations in cortisol hormone homeostasis secondary to overstimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis.

Behavioral Effects

Stressful situations can also lead to alterations in the behavioral patterns of an individual. The most common behavioral effects secondary to stress include the development of eating disorders, altered sleeping patterns, impaired concentration, and drug abuse especially alcohol. Alterations in sleep and eating patterns are linked to stress’s effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA). Exposure to stressful events leads to increased activation of the HPA axis with a net effect of increased catecholamine production (adrenaline and noradrenaline) (Moustafa et al., 2018). Increased adrenaline and noradrenaline production results in dysregulation in the eating and sleeping patterns. Sustained high levels of cortisol results in difficulty falling asleep and increased metabolic processes. The biological clock regulates the typical sleeping pattern that relies on producing the sleep hormone melatonin. Melatonin production by the pineal gland is regulated indirectly by the concentration of serum cortisol levels and directly by light perception. Imbalances in the serum concentration cycle secondary to stress results in imbalanced melatonin production and concentration with a net effect of sleeping difficulties.

The emotional strain caused by stress increases the risk of alcohol and other illicit drug use and dependence. Moustafa et al. (2018) conducted an integrative literature review to determine the relationship between childhood trauma, early-life stress, alcohol and drug use, addiction, and abuse. The review findings illustrate that stress increases the risk of alcohol and drug use, addiction, and abuse among the victims. An explanation for the increased risk is the individuals’ lack of identification and implementation of effective coping strategies (Moustafa et al., 2018). Lack of effective coping strategies results in maladaptive measures such as illicit drug use and alcohol consumption. Extensive use of the maladaptive measures results in progressive addiction and drug abuse among individuals with an increased predisposition to other health effects. Alcohol consumption and other illicit drug use over time increase the risk of developing cardiac, respiratory, and liver conditions.

Conclusion

Stress is the emotional strain or tension experienced by an individual due to a reaction toward various demanding and influential situations. Individual response to stressors influences their health. Maladaptive response to stress results in various physical, psychological, and behavioral negative effects. Negative effects of stress on physical health include increased heart rates, sweating, high blood pressure, and long-term development of the cardiac condition. Psychological effects include the development of anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorders. The behavioral effects of stress on an individual include the development of eating disorders, altered sleeping patterns, impaired concentration, and abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Based on the research findings, it is essential for healthcare providers to identify strategic measures and health initiatives to educate and sensitize the community members on effective stress management approaches in all settings to aid in combating the health effects.

References

Keech, J. J., Cole, K. L., Hagger, M. S., & Hamilton, K. (2020). The association between stress mindset and physical and psychological well being: Testing a stress beliefs model in police officers. Psychology & Health, 35(11), 1306-1325. Web.

Kivimäki, M., & Steptoe, A. (2017). Effects of stress on the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 15(4), 215–229. Web.

Moustafa, A. A., Parkes, D., Fitzgerald, L., Underhill, D., Garami, J., Levy-Gigi, E., Stramecki, F., Valikhani, A., Frydecka, D., & Misiak, B. (2018). The relationship between childhood trauma, early-life stress, and alcohol and drug use, abuse, and addiction: An integrative review. Current Psychology, 40(2), 579–584. Web.

Zhang, X., Zhao, K., Zhang, G., Feng, R., Chen, J., Xu, D., Liu, X., Ngoubene-Italy, A. J., Huang, H., Liu, Y., Chen, L., & Wang, W. (2020). Occupational Stress and Mental Health: A comparison between frontline medical staff and non-frontline medical staff during the 2019 novel Coronavirus Disease outbreak. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11. Web.

With the dynamic economic environments that businesses operate in, workplace stress and burnout has increasingly become common. “Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful” (Maxon 1). The problem is not only in America but also in all other parts of the world. Incidences of mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, bankruptcies, layoffs, etc have cost workers their jobs. After such incidences, the workplace is normally stressful and uncomfortable for workers.

Other workers may also undertake their duties fearfully due to the possibility of the aforementioned occurrences. Many workers are held up in tasks they are either uncomfortable with or unfamiliar with causing stress and burnout in their work. This paper investigates the causes of stress and burnout in the workplace and suggests ways of minimizing stress and burnout.

Among the factors that contribute to burnout in workers is the fact that workers are sometimes given too much work to accomplish in a short period. This exposes workers to performance pressure because they are worried that they cannot accomplish the task in the given time (Immen 1). Executives and managers should therefore ensure that they give workers reasonable deadlines for assignments in order to avoid stress and burnout that comes with pressure to beat deadlines.

Additionally, stress and burnout in the workplace may be caused by surveillance of workers’ production using computer systems, fewer benefits, longer working hours, and even new bosses. In every organization, workers across the hierarchy experience some form of uncertainty and tension making them vulnerable to stress and burnout.

It is therefore vital to ensure that computer surveillance systems are appropriately designed to reduce the effects they have on workers. Employers should also address other related issues like employee benefits and working hours with a view of reducing the stress and burnout that workers experience.

Executives are facing greater demands than in the past with the advent of technology. During their personal time, most executives find themselves doing office work due to the convenience offered by Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and tablets. This exacerbates stress and burnout because even hardworking people require some recovery time after work in order to manage stress and burnout effectively. Therefore, there is need for organizations to divide labor effectively so that each worker gets time to rest (Immen 1).

In some cases, an uncomfortable working environment like operating heavy and dangerous equipment may cause stress. In other cases, stress may be a result of unhealthy inter-personal relationships in the working environment.

Examples of the latter include uncoordinated teamwork, conflict among co-workers and unclear supervision (Maxon 1). Organizations should put in place proper systems to minimize stress and burnout that may come from poor relations among employees. In the case of a dangerous working environment, organizations should provide their workers with insurance and set up proper security measures.

Changes in how operations are carried out in organizations are a major cause of stress and burnout for workers. A couple of decades ago, a workers job remained constant during his/her tenure at the job. The situation is different in contemporary organizations.

Pilots are flying under pressing time demands, carrying more passengers, with more traffic, and using planes that are more complicated (Maxon 1). Other professionals like economists, accountants, finance officers, engineers, etc have to learn specialized computer software in order to work effectively. This has therefore been a source of stress and burnout for workers.

A particularly alarming cause of stress in the workplace is aggression. Millions of workers across the U.S. experience some form of violence in the workplace leading to absenteeism and lost wages. People who experience aggression at work are likely to experience higher stress and burnout levels that their counterparts (Maxon 1). Aggression may be in the form of physical assault or passive aggression. The latter is most common in organizations where workers engage in ‘cold war’.

Some workers may withhold resources from other workers, others may have a habit of ignoring invitations to meetings, and some may fail to respond to memos and phone calls. Although these causes may sound benign, they are responsible for workplace stress and burnout in millions of workers in the United States (Maxon 1). Organizations should therefore ensure that they have proper redress mechanisms for dealing with the various forms of aggressions in order to minimize stress and burnout among their workers.

The largest cause of stress and burnout in the workplace is perhaps wrong job placement. Sometimes people follow the wrong careers and end up doing jobs that are not suitable for them. For instance, an introvert who chooses marketing or sales as his/her profession is likely to experience high levels of stress and burnout than an extrovert in the same profession.

Similarly, an extrovert who chooses accounting as his/her profession is likely to experience high levels of stress and burnout than an introvert in the same profession. Worse still, management may force a person to work in a department that does not suit his/her disposition and qualifications. This usually leads to job dissatisfaction and ultimately the worker will experience stress and burnout. It is therefore important that managers assign jobs to workers according to the skills and competencies of the workers (Bowman 1).

Employees should also ensure that they evaluate their competencies and identify the areas where they fit best. In addition to this, workers may be having personal problems like bereavement, separation, divorce, sickness, etc. This will also result in stress and burnout, ultimately affecting the performance of the workers.

Stress and burnout are also common among employees who feel that they do not have enough control over what they do. Despite the fact that management must exercise control over what workers do in their organizations, it is vital that the workers are given some control over their work in order to motivate them and avoid instances of stress and burnout among workers. Management should also ensure that workers are given credit for jobs well done and that managers acknowledge the input of their juniors in every exercise.

Stress and burnout in the workplace remain a global challenge. As evidenced in the discussion above, stress and burnout have a myriad of causes and thus solutions to workplace stress and burnout depend on the cause. Causes of stress and burnout in the workplace can be classified into three categories.

These are work, self and life situations. The first class of causes is the most common and it includes issues like lack of control over work, lack of proper compensation, lack of clear supervision, etc. The second class includes issues like job placement and a person’s character, while the third includes personal issues like bereavement and divorce.

Works Cited

Bowman, Dave. Stress in the Workplace. n.d. Web.

Immen, Wallace. Workplace burnout affecting the best and the brightest. 2012. Web.

Maxon, Rebecca. Stress in the Workplace: A Costly Epidemic. 1999. Web.

Psychology is one of the most dynamic studies in academia. Generally, psychology is concerned with the study of human behavior in the environment, factors that influence behavior change and other behavior determinants. Psychology involves research activities because it is concerned with finding out.

There are several research methods that are used in psychology to assist in the explanation of different behaviors among human beings. Research methods used in psychology use different methods of data collection, sampling and analysis process. Basically, the different techniques used determines the respective methods used in psychological research.

There are different methods due to diverse needs in research. Furthermore, the methods used also depend on whether they are used to collect qualitative or quantitative data. There are two major types of psychological research, for instance, qualitative and quantitative psychological research.

However, these are further subdivided into correlational, descriptive and experimental research methods. This study report highlights the causes and effects of stress using qualitative psychological research method. Furthermore, the report discusses the research methods and their applicability in psychology.

Psychology is a challenging field of study. This is due to the research methods used in the process of analyzing and finding solutions to the global psychological challenges and problems. Considering the analysis and study of the research methods, I decided to use the qualitative psychology research method.

This is one of the commonly used research methods because it’s easy to understand and implement (Fossey, Harvey, McDermott, & Davidson 2002). Furthermore, the methods used in the data collection and analysis are easy to learn hence increases the chances of drawing reliable and realistic conclusions. Research is conducted in psychology to provide solutions to the social problems that can be solved psychologically.

Before designing the research, I will have to fully understand the concepts used in qualitative psychology research method. Generally, qualitative research findings are naturalistic. This method enables researchers to understand behavior in a natural setup.

Qualitative psychology research uses data collection methods such as interviews and questionnaires among others. My main aim is to report on a study using qualitative psychology research, and I will use a questionnaire to collect data that I will use for analysis and determination of results thereafter (Nesbit & Hadwin 2006).

Stress is a state of instability mentally. This is one of the most common psychological challenges that several people face around the globe. There are different factors that are believed to cause stress and their effects on individuals.

However, these factors differ based on the environment where individuals operate or conduct their daily activities (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein, 1983). Stress may affect an individual negatively, which will be discussed in this report.

Methodology

The research method that I have decided to use for the study is the qualitative research method in psychology. There are different methods of data collection used in qualitative research process.

However, I will use a questionnaire to collect data that I will use in the study. Using questionnaires is advantageous because it enables a researcher to collect reliable information that can be used in analysis and drawing of realistic and reliable conclusions. I will design an open ended questionnaire based on the research topic, which is ‘what are the causes and effects of stress’ (Butler 2006).

Generally, the questionnaire will also have multiple choice questions. The multiple choice questions will test the ability of the respondents to determine the effects and causes of stress based on the presented information.

On the other hand, open ended questions will be used to give the respondents the opportunity to provide extensive and detailed information on the causes and effects of stress, and their individual experience (Lincoln & Guba 2003).

The questionnaires will be distributed to individuals in different areas. The research will target students and professionals. This is aimed at analyzing the causes and effects of stress in a working environment and learning institutions. Questionnaires will be distributed to students from different learning institutions and individual professionals from different companies producing different goods and offering different services.

The target groups are students and professionals because stress is common in learning institutions and working environments. Moreover, there are different causes and effects of stress on students and practicing professionals in different working environments (Leech & Onwuegbuzie 2007).

The questionnaires will enable me to determine the most common causes of stress among students. Furthermore, the questionnaire will enable me to determine causes of stress among working individuals and individuals despite their employment status.

Furthermore, it will enable me to discuss and highlight the most common causes of stress and their effects on the development and execution of duties and responsibilities in the workplace and at the family level. The questionnaires will be distributed to students in three higher learning institutions around my school, and other institutions in different industries. In schools, the questionnaires will be distributed to students and staff.

This will enable me to receive responses from students in different learning environments and professionals working under different conditions. Generally, this will enable me to collect diverse data, which will enable the presentation of reliable and realistic conclusions.

600 questionnaires will be supplied to cover for any responses that might not be received within the specified time for data collection. I intend to collect data within 30 days and targets 450 respondents. This is the sample size that I will use for my analysis (Fossey, Harvey, McDermott, & Davidson 2002).

Data analysis

The questionnaire will be used in the analysis of data. The questions contained in the questionnaire addresses several the research questions. However, conclusions will be based on the responses received.

After receiving the expected number of responses, I will summarize the responses on the questionnaires based on the area of data collection, for instance, per institution where the questionnaires were supplied and other companies or organizations from other industries. Thereafter, I will generalize the summary as per different categories, for instance, learners and practicing professionals.

This will give me an easy time of presenting findings based on the views and preferences of students and practicing individuals. It will also enable me to determine the causes and effects of stress among students and individuals in the job market (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein 1983).

Results

Stress is a psychological problem that affects the normal operation of individuals. Individuals may be stressed due to several reasons irrespective of where they work, study or live. Stress is part of human life, which must be managed to promote quality living. It is perceived that employed individuals are prone to stress that the unemployed individuals.

However, after extensive research on the causes and effects of stress, I came to realize that any individual can be stressed due to different reasons. Although there are several causes of stress, there are five major causes that were pointed out as a cause of stress by most respondents.

The most common causes of stress according to most respondents are workplace stress or tension, financial problems, health, personal relationships and irritants. Furthermore, most respondents reported that the effects of stress are mental instability, headache, lack of motivation and poor performance.

According to the data obtained, 80% of employees perform poorly because of stress, while 70% of students are not able to accomplish their academic goals due to stress.

Furthermore, 65% of stress among students is caused by financial strain, personal relationships, irritants and poor health. 73% of the respondents in the working environment are stressed due to financial problems, personal relationships, irritants, tension in the workplace and poor health status.

Discussion

Stress is a psychological challenge that can be caused by different factors in the global environment. Learners and working individuals may be stressed due to several reasons. It is believed that stress is caused by external factors and individual attitude and perceptions.

Stress has compromised the quality of life because it leads to adverse health effects such as coronary heart attack and respiratory diseases among others. There are several causes of stress according to this study. However, there are five common or major causes of stress according to responses received (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein, 1983).

Financial problems

Individuals require money to acquire several products or goods. Furthermore, money is essential in accessing different services in the global environment. Money is a basic need because it is used in the acquisition of basic needs. Financial problems such as debts and inability to acquire or afford basic needs may cause stress. This is a problem that working individuals and students face.

Basically, employed individuals are expected to provide fullness to their families and ensure they are comfortable (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein 1983). This is not possible in case an individual is faced with need to cut down on expenditures due to the increasing cost of education, payment of credits and high cost of health services.

This may also stress the family of the respective person, especially students because they might not be able to afford their basic needs in school due to limited funding support from their parents or guardians facing the same situation (Tennant, et al. 2007).

Considering the number of respondents who identified financial problems as a cause of stress, it is true that financial problems or strain may be the major cause of stress among individuals.

Workplace stress

There are several factors that may cause stress at the workplace. Workplace stress is also caused by tension due to several reasons, for instance, anticipation of promotion, retrenchment, demotion and termination of employment among others. Uncertainties in the workplace may lead to stress. Junior employees may also be stressed incase they are working under strict bosses or those who bully them among others.

Change is part of business operation. Change introduction in an organization may affect individual employees positively or negatively. Employees are stressed in case an organization where they work plans to introduce changes that might cause them the position or lead to demotion. This has led to change resistance among employees in an organization.

However, whether employees resist change or not, it must be implemented according to the strategies of the respective organization (Tennant, et al. 2007). This stresses several employees and affects their way of life.

Organizations are divided into departments; individual departments are assigned specific objectives or goals that should be achieved within a specific time to aid in the achievements of the overall goals and objectives of the respective organization. Employees must be determined to achieve these goals because failure may render them incompetent, and lead to demotion or termination of employment.

This leads to tension because most objectives have strict deadlines. Employees work to achieve the stated goals and any sign that shows inability to achieve the set goals and objectives within the stated deadline cause stress at the workplace (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein 1983).

Personal relationships

Personal relationships may also be a source of stress although it is a source of comfort. Personal relations include parents, children, relatives and spouses. Studies of children may cause stress to their parents because they have to provide finances despite the high cost of living and education. The number of children seeking education may also determine the intensity of stress.

Sickness of a family member, spouse or relative may also cause stress because they require finances to access medical services (Tennant, et al. 2007). Furthermore, high dependence from relatives may also cause stress because individuals have to balance between the relatives’ needs and their family and personal needs, which require financing.

Personal relationships may also cause stress to students due to instable relationships. Currently, several students are engaging in affairs, which might cause them stress due to the unstable nature of most relationships of students. Moreover, infidelity in the family or relationship may also cause stress in case an individual is not able to handle it or encourage his or her partner to be faithful (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein 1983).

Health

Health is a major concern for several people. Leading a healthy life requires finances, for instance, controlling hypertension, losing weight, maintaining good health or gaining weight among others. Individuals are concerned with the status of their health because productiveness requires healthy living.

An individual may not perform if his or her health is poor. Therefore, maintaining healthy lifestyles is a cause of stress to both working individuals and students (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein, 1983).

Irritants

Apart from the cases mentioned and discussed above, other causes are irritants that compromise daily activities. Factors that irritate individuals are commuting to work, balancing education and family life, balancing work and family responsibilities, discussing family challenges, parents meeting on children’s school and lack of relaxation time among others (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein, 1983).

Effects of stress

Stress affects individuals negatively. There are several effects of stress according to the study, for instance, poor health. Stress may lead to poor health because it may lead to contraction of diseases such as hypertension among others.

The poor health may affect performance of employees at the workplace hence lead to demotion or termination of employment. It may also hinder students from achieving their academic goals. Furthermore, stress may lead to instable families and relationships, which lead to breakups, fights and suicides among others (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelestein, 1983).

Conclusion

Stress is a challenge that individuals face, but must continue living. The research has revealed that stress is caused by poor health, workplace stress, irritants, financial problems and personal relationships.

Furthermore, stress may aggravate hypertension and other chronic diseases, lead to marriage or relationship breakups and fights. Stress can also lead to suicide and demotion or termination of employment due to poor performance in the workplace.

List of References

Butler, D. L 2006, Frames of Inquiry in Educational Psychology: Beyond quantitative-Qualitative Divide, Handbook of Educational Psychology, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 903-927.

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelestein, R 1983, A global Measure of Perceived stress, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 6 no. 5, pp. 386-396.

Fossey, E., Harvey, C., McDermott, F., & Davidson, L 2002, Understanding and Evaluating qualitative research, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 13 no. 9, pp. 717-732.

Leech, N., & Onwuegbuzie, A 2007, An array of qualitative data analysis tools: A call for data analysis triangulation, School of Psychology Quarterly, vol. 6 no. 4, pp. 557-584.

Lincoln, Y., & Guba, G 2003, Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences, Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks.

Nesbit, J. C., & Hadwin, A 2006, Methodological Issues in Educational Psychology, Handbook of educational psychology, vol. 35 no. 7, pp. 825-847.

Tennant, R., Hiller, L., Fishwick, R., Platt, S., Joseph, S., Weich, S., et al. 2007, The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Development and UK validation, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, vol. 3 no. 4, p. 5.

Abstract

Statistics from the education sector have suggested that approximately twenty million of college students are acquiring their various degrees online, a phenomenon vastly referred to as distance learning.

The e-learning curriculum has been mentioned to be the most appropriate technique. In addition, it has assisted colleges increase their enrollment to thousands of students given the reduced pressure on the resources. According to several researches carried out, the large number of college students being enrolled through the online procedure is accredited to less stress experienced by the scholars.

The distance learners have been perceived to be enjoying a suitable environment of learning as opposed to the traditional classroom learners who experience high levels of stress. This stress has been explained by the investigations to have emerged from extreme burdens and pressure which have been noticed to lead to poor environments for their learning activities.

Major findings supported Aragon, Ballenger and Blair’s replica of the behavioral characteristics (shyness) and disabilities (deafness) as possible factors that can impart stress to a college student attending traditional classroom lessons. There are higher dispositional, situational, and institutional encumbers that can impart a lot of stress and creating a poor environment for learning to a scholar undertaking traditional classroom studies.

Introduction

The different techniques of educational designs for students in learning institutions have led to the development of a gap between those enrolled through online criteria and those enrolled through the students’ physical presence within the classroom. With regard to this, several indifferences have emerged concerning the best learning environment either for the traditional classroom learners or their distance learning counterparts.

This discussion emphasizes on the stress levels among the students. This paper will support the fact that college students attending traditional learning environments have significantly higher stress levels as compared to students in distance learning environments.

According to Peterson (2001) college students undertaking e-learning as compared to those of traditional learning have fewer costs of movement which provides a good environment for learning. Basing on this writers perception, these students need only computers as well as connections to the internet to settle down and read.

However, commuting costs are greatly reduced. He further adds that these students do not have to move all over the country before attending a college but can attend a college virtually anywhere. The writer claims that the environment of traditional learners is full of stress with several queries on how they will get the traveling costs from here to there attending to lectures.

In Lynch (2002), traditional learners face increased stress levels as in storage of their important information. They have to incur amplified printing costs. This is opposed to electronic learners who don’t necessarily need to print out materials as their information can be read and stored in the computer.

To these learners, the whole syllabus on the course, instructions plus all other learning materials contained in course management system are retrieved online. In addition to this, printing is optional. Kiefer (2007) backs up the idea by stating that in submission of the homework plus other tasks, traditional learners have to move and present them in form of hard copies. However, e-learners can submit the tasks via email.

Furthermore, assignment files can be uploaded. Assignments are read and graded by the tutors online and comments left through email. Basing on this writers perception, the minimal of paper trailing for the distance learners creates the best environment for their learning thus less stress.

In Peterson (2001), the traditional learners are never able to access some other online materials such as textbooks to improve on their knowledge. This proves a very poor environment for them. The writer unfolds the presence of textbooks online which can be read by e-learners and thus improve on their proficiency about the subject.

He explains on the several offers given by many publishers as well as permissions granted for ordering specific chapters that are needed for any course. With regard to this, the costs of textbooks are cut making electronically read books cheaper than traditional texts. This can lessen further the costs of printing as only required pages can be printed rather than the whole textbook. This creates a proper environment for e-learners to gain knowledge.

Kibby (2007) states, “…as in the traditional onsite classroom, online instructors’ underlying learning theories and pedagogical goals may vary, but the better the fit between the instructors’ theoretical foundation, pedagogical goals, and available technologies, the more easily attainable pedagogical goals will be” (p. 54). He goes further to give some key contemplations concerning traditional learning among college students.

Courses of e-learners should not be duplicate materials of traditional classroom courses but possess their motivational and beneficial rights. Courses for e-learners should incorporate similar objectives to traditional learners and necessitate students to apply their intelligence and express their proficiency through satisfactory appraisal prospects. For objectives to be attained by distance learners, tutors should adjust their curriculum such that they are not restricted by the technology.

However, the increased use and demand for online courses has been found to be as a result of some benefits in the US (Kiefer, 2007). Basing on numerous surveys, the major motive as to why college students look out for online courses that necessitate distance learning is to accommodate their programs/time assurance (Kibby, 2007). Some other connected motives to prefer distance learning to traditional classroom learning are to circumvent commuting and for the absence of local educational programs (Sooner, 1999).

In addition to this, Gagne and Shepherd (2001) back up the perception of advantages of escalating the accessibility by suggesting that learners who are obliged to perform poorly in or those who would be incapable of attending traditional classroom learning have higher chances of flourishing in the online version of a similar course for distant learners thus less stress.

According to a review conducted by Clark (2001), vast online composition tutors believe that their courses offer college scholars with augmented opportunities to work in partnership with and join a society of writers, which the surrounding smoothens the progress of learners giving positive outcomes in peer-appraise groups and permits the development of modified education strategies premeditated to concentrate on individual apprentice strengths and weaknesses, and that it attains these aspirations more sufficiently than the traditional classroom.

In adjunction to these outcomes, Blair and Hoy (2006) also allude to research that propose the rudiments of online experience where there is the allowance of a reserved number of students to be heard and there is liberation of the cases of races and which in most cases have been known to alienate some other scholars.

The writers went further and advanced their concept by stating basing on the assumption that the courses are set up appropriately, the online classroom permits scholars who grow and advance in their studies while they are frustrated with the activities and dialogues that they perform with their fellow students that give them the chances to accomplish home works as well as course works at a faster pace than it is needed and synchronize the customized schedules and endeavors through the direct interactions with the tutor, while the other scholars persist to effectively get pleasure from the joint fundamentals of the course.

Despite the many significant achievements from distant learning that have been put forth, numerous of the respondents from the survey in (Kiefer, 2007) emphasize on the growth of staffing and curriculum, the duty of learning shifting on a larger note to the scholars, there is a high increase in technologically based knowledge among scholars, other media kinds of writing are included in the learning curriculum, college scholars in remote areas also have direct access to education, the established relationships among online college scholars are better off as contrasted traditional based classroom learners, high and increased diversity among the students, there is high anticipation expected from the production among the students by the tutors, most learning sessions emphasize greatly on illustration features of writing and lastly the courses done by distant learners have a positive consequence on the wellbeing of the students.

According to this writer, the benefits accrued by distant learners as opposed to traditional classroom learners are direct proves of a positive and rather good environment for these learners.

On totting up to the augmented motivation for college scholars to build up their knowledge on computers, Kibby (2007) argues that the credibility of the programs of writing is capable of receiving the relevant recognition.

This improves effectiveness because it assists scholars to be able to have some technological based knowledge that greatly facilitate their success in the prospect courses in college as well as careers. It also helps the scholars to be recognizable with the diverse styles of learning. This can enable scholars to work in a stress-free environment.

According to the research cited by Blair and Hoy (2006), it’s suggested that an amalgamation of writing courses given to distance learners are all suitable for constructivist pedagogies with its main objective being to get scholars to inscribe for a perfectly genuine audience.

The main common objective amongst composition tutors was mainly to drive their scholars establish their interest in considering the desires of their audience, and meeting the desires of the audience necessitates the stipulation of context, the employment of clarity and rational language, and employment of rhetorical ideologies.

Its therefore possible to be disputed that distance learners in online classrooms necessitates college scholars to practice with the help of these fundamentals in their inscription more than the scholars in traditional classrooms would.

Besides, having the best skills of writing with the core intention of meeting the necessities of and to converse perfectly with an explicit audience is datable among the most precious proficiency that our college learners could have some knowledge about.

In a direct and open room where the lectures are performed, the tutors have the comfort of adding up addendums on their own vocabulary and terminologies, rephrasing, considering the response of the audience to the scholars communication, and acclimatizing instructions or elucidations based on the oral and non verbal cues revealed by the audience.

Conversely, the written utterance that is published then sent is difficult to take back and edit. Consequently, the scholars usually encounter the greatest penalty of avoiding writing in a rhetorically resonance way.

Another problem that faces the traditional classroom learners that is not experienced by distance learners is that the dialogue written on paper relating on the activities within the class as well as discussions is endlessly accessible (Blair & Hoy, 2006).

In addition to this, Gagne and Shepherd, (2001) explicitly expose how an appraisal among peers that is conducted by means of synchronous conversations gives an opportunity for scholars to take charge and benefit to the maximum from the rapid brainstorming chats and give comments whereas keeping in mind the asynchronous alternative of assessing the archived interactions afterwards.

On totting up, it has been noticed that there is a lot of appreciation among college scholars undertaking e learning as well as their tutors towards what the merits that have been achieved from the educational curriculum that has allowed the electronic sharing of data amongst them.

Basing on Ballenger’s (2008) perspective many scholars showed a lot of appreciation because they had most of their time spend in reflection to their personal responses, which gave them an opportunity in articulation of their thoughts in an accurate manner. The activity of distance learning has posed greater insinuations for satisfying the requirements of the audience.

Through the activity, a comfortable environment is created for the college scholars who have naturally developed to be shy and furthermore those who have been uncomfortable with giving answers to a series of questions in a face to face communication. However, some authors may come up and disagree with the perception claiming that the answering of questions for distance learners could possibly limit their chances of developing and improving on their interpersonal communication proficiency.

Lynch (2002) backs up the perception by stating according to his research that the interaction among the distance college learners makes it possible for discussions that allow for a large number of participants with different kinds of comments as compared to the traditional classroom face to face interaction.

A good environment is created in online student discussions. She goes further and cites one more advantage that the online electronic conversation gives an allowance on the response from numerous students simultaneously at the same time. This is opposed to the live traditional classroom discussions where by the responses must be received in turns; one finishes his comment before the next does.

She adds up that the online discussions through the electronic devices foster a lively conversation leading to creation of strong interpersonal relationships among the scholars than the face to face traditional discussions. She sums up by saying that all the aspects that are dealt with by distance learners are in procession with the constructivist pedagogy.

Aragon (2003) explains in his research the merits that are achieved by distance learners that make them have an upper hand in comparison to the traditional classroom learners. One of merits is that there are augmented chances in development of important reading habits.

This is because students achieve their set objectives if they first understand the prospect requirements of the assignment. Basing on this fact, college students from traditional classrooms experience or rather face severe stress due to their reliance on the teachers’ reminders on due dates, the homework assignments expectations and the assessment of the course readings. They thus develop the dependency on the tutor as a habit.

The online scholars on the other hand are maintained at a state where they develop personal responsibility and cautious reading of the course requirements in order to ensure that they are at par with the rest. In addition to this, the arrangement may smooth the progress of different learning techniques which are designed and appropriate text-based learning more than the oral and visual instructions.

Besides, the benefits of online classes to the scholars, it also has some demerits. In spite of the benefits developed from the online exchange of data, Clark (2001) argues out that “contributions to synchronous chats are slowed by technology, resulting conversations tend to appear differently than they would in face-to-face environments” (p. 20).

Sooner (1999) suggests in his research that some courses are appropriate for distance learning while others strictly call for traditional learning design. He further argues out that there is need for an interaction between scholars and their instructors. This is a prerequisite for the development and improvement of their interpersonal communication skills.

It can be concluded that the distance learning environments have fewer stress levels than the traditional classroom environment. This can be noticed from vast merits that the online college scholars have that outweigh those of traditional classroom college learners.

Method Section

Secondary sources were employed in collection of assessed data from past research materials of various researchers. These were research accounts that used primary data in solving of problems of research that were intended to determine whether learners within traditional classroom environment face more stress as compared to the environment of their fellow counterparts who are distance learners.

Since there are several investigations that have been carried out on a similar topic, this paper engaged on identifying the various perceptions and analysis and comparing them. This was for the purpose of providing a wide base of literary appraisal on the same topic to emerge with a sound and reasonable implication free from bias. This provided a variety of critical perceptions and elucidations that exist concerning the topic. This further helps the reader to further understand some information that he had not known about the topic.

Reference List

Aragon, S. R. (2003). Creating social presence in online environments. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education,100, 57-68.

Ballenger, B. (2008). The Curious Writer. New York: Pearson Longman.

Blair, K., & Hoy, C. (2006). Paying attention to adult learners online: The pedagogy and politics of community. Computers and Composition, 23, 32-48.

Clark, J. (2001). Stimulating collaboration and discussion in online learning environments. Internet and Higher Education, 4, 119-124.

Gagne, M., and Shepherd, M. (2001). Distance learning in accounting. T.H.E. Journal, 28 (9), 58-65.

Kibby, M. D. (2007). Hybrid Teaching and Learning: Pedagogy versus Pragmatism. In J. Lockard & M. Pegrum (Eds.), Brave New Classrooms (pp. 87-104). New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Kiefer, K. (2007). Do Students Lose More than They Gain in Online Writing Classes? In J. Lockard & M. Pegrum (Eds.), Brave New Classrooms (pp. 141-151). New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Lynch, M. M. (2002). The Online Educator: A Guide to Creating the Virtual Classroom. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Peterson, P. W. (2001). The debate about online learning: key issues for writing teachers. Computers and Composition, 18, 359-370.

Sooner, B. S. (1999). Success in the capstone business course-Assessing the effectiveness of distance learning. Journal of Education for Business, 74 (4), 243-248.

Abstract

Human emotions, feelings of anger, and health are interconnected. This means that people should be able to manage stress if they want to live longer and achieve their potential. This paper begins by analyzing the major issues or aspects associated with human emotions. People who are aware of their poignant experiences will manage them effectively using evidence-based measures. The discussion goes further to examine the connection between stress and health. The final section examines various practices and ideas that individuals can consider to cope with anger and eventually record positive health results.

Introduction

Human beings experience different forms of emotions depending on the situations they are in. Such feelings are usually capable of affecting every person’s performance or achievement. Stress also affects people negatively, thereby making it impossible for them to achieve their goals. Managing it can result in positive health outcomes. This paper focuses on the issues of stress, health, and emotions. Meaningful insights are presented that can empower more people to lead high-quality and healthy lives.

Emotion

Cognition and Emotion

Arousal and expressive behaviors in emotion interact uniquely. According to James-Lange theory, arousal will arise before an emotion (Myers, 2011). This will trigger expressive behaviors that are associated with physiological responses. For human beings to experience emotions, they must interpret the existing situation consciously and label them (Myers, 2011). This means that individuals will be physically aroused.

Embodied Emotion

The link between emotional arousal and the autonomous nervous system is what scientists call embodied emotion. This means that any form of arousal will automatically result in a psychological response. This is something associated with or caused by the body’s autonomous nervous system (Toussaint, Shields, Dorn, & Slavish, 2016). Arousal will affect an individual’s performance negatively. For example, a person who is about to give a public speech will be unable to deliver once he or she is aroused emotionally.

All emotions do not trigger similar physiological and brain-pattern responses. A study by Toussaint et al. (2016) revealed that the cortical areas of the brain were responsible for diverse emotional and physiological responses. This means that strong emotions will trigger complex brain patterns and physiological responses due to the nature of hormones the body releases. Polygraphs have been in use to measure physiological responses of emotion. However, they are not very reliable when detecting lies. This is the reason why guilty questions are used as alternatives.

Expressed Emotion

Human beings communicate nonverbally through several voluntary or involuntary ways, including dressing, construction, writing, paralanguage, and gestures. This approach ensures that people share adequate information and ideas. Women and men differ in this aspect. This is true since females are talented as natural communicators (Toussaint et al., 2016). This happens to be the case since they are empowered to engage others on a wide range of levels.

Nonverbal expressions of emotions are universally understood. This is the case since all human beings portray similar expressions for joy, fear, happiness, anger, or sadness. Similarly, musical expressions are usually uniform across all cultural groups (Myers, 2011). Latest studies have revealed that people’s facial expressions will influence their feelings accordingly. An individual trying to force an expression of happiness will eventually feel such an emotion. This means that facial expressions will influence the intended mood.

Experienced Emotion

The basic emotions include surprise, joy, disgust, fear, shame, guilt, anger, sadness, contempt, and interest-excitement. These can be differentiated using these two dimensions: valence (either positive or negative) and arousal (whether low or high). The major causes of anger include insulting actions and frustrating experiences that humans might interpret as unjustified, willful, or unavoidable. Its consequences include feelings of pain, vengeance, and suicide (Finlay-Jones, Rees, & Kane, 2015). Happiness, on the other hand, arises from promising or helpful situations or events. Personal achievements and positive feelings will result in increased happiness. This feeling can trigger good health outcomes. Happiness has also been associated with risky behaviors, such as binge drinking.

Stress and Health

Several events will provoke stress responses in human beings. For instance, the loss of a beloved person, injury, or divorce will result in painful emotions. Negative events or experiences can generate feelings of anguish or anger. Human beings respond and adapt differently to stress. Some might cry and engage in various activities to overcome pain. Others will embrace the concept of resilience to respond to the experienced situation in a positive manner (Finlay-Jones et al., 2015). In extreme cases, some individuals might decide to seek psychological support or commit suicide.

Feelings of anger and stress are associated with poor health outcomes. When an individual is affected by stress, chances are high that he or she will embrace inappropriate or risky health behaviors. For example, some people might eat large quantities of food while others will not. Such individuals will record negative health outcomes and be at risk of anorexia or obesity (Myers, 2011). Depression, mental illnesses, dementia, and migraine are also serious medical conditions triggered by prolonged stress. Affected individuals might decide to engage in risky behaviors that will expose them to various illnesses, including HIV/AIDs and addiction.

Some people will be more prone to coronary heart disease than others. Individuals from families with a history of this condition will be at a higher risk of becoming sick. Those who are facing stressful experiences or situations will also be exposed to coronary heart disease (Finlay-Jones et al., 2015). A proper understanding of these differences will empower more people to protect themselves from different medical conditions.

Promoting Health

The ability to cope with stress is a powerful attribute that can result in positive health outcomes. Many people facing this challenge will consider different strategies to record meaningful results. These may include engaging in self-care, talking to friends and counselors, avoiding alcohol and other addictive drugs, seeking therapy, and getting rid of the main trigger. Some people might focus on the most appropriate approaches to become more resilient (Finlay-Jones et al., 2015). A perceived lack of control will eventually affect a person’s health outcomes negatively. This is true since the affected individual will engage in drinking or continue to use addictive substances. Such a person might also decide to embrace a risky lifestyle. Such misbehaviors will eventually result in controllable illnesses or suicidal thoughts.

Individuals who have a positive or optimistic outlook on life record positive health results because they respond to challenging experiences effectively. They will recover within a short time whenever they are sick. They will also portray increased levels of optimism and life expectancy. Social support is related to positive health since it empowers people to deal with stress (Myers, 2011). The body’s immunity will increase significantly and eventually improve the individual’s health outcomes. People should, therefore, consider these linkages to lead long and healthy lives.

Aerobic exercises are useful because they can help people manage stress and improve their well-being. This is an oxygen-consuming activity that improves the functioning of the lungs and the heart. It also results in muscle relaxation and better sleep (Toussaint et al., 2016). It relieves depression and increases a person’s cognitive abilities.

Meditation and relaxation are evidence-based practices that reduce stress by minimizing blood pressure and relaxing different muscles. Such techniques also result in improved body functioning, thereby reducing depression and anxiety. The faith factor reveals that religiously active individuals will have better and longer lives (Myers, 2011). This achievement arises from the social support, positive emotions, and healthy behaviors associated with it. People can consider these explanations or connections to achieve similar benefits.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) entails the use of alternative practices to promote health outcomes. Although they are not common in medical schools and hospitals, they have been found to deliver positive results (Finlay-Jones et al., 2015). Scientific researchers consider such methods to understand their positive impacts through the use of randomized or control experiments. The findings encourage different people to use CAM techniques to meet their health demands.

Conclusion

The above discussion has indicated that emotions play a unique role in the experiences and health outcomes of all people. A proper understanding of how to cope with emotions and stress can empower more individuals to record positive health outcomes. Meditation, aerobic exercises, complementary and alternative medicine, and religious beliefs are powerful attributes that can result in improved health outcomes.

References

Finlay-Jones, A. L., Rees, C. S., & Kane, R. T. (2015). Self-compassion, emotion regulation and stress among Australian psychologists: Testing an emotion regulation model of self-compassion using structural equation modeling. PLoS ONE, 10(7), e0133481. Web.

Myers, D. G. (2011). Psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Toussaint, L., Shields, G. S., Dorn, G., & Slavish, G. M. (2016). Effects of lifetime stress exposure on mental and physical health in young adulthood: How stress degrades and forgiveness protects health. Journal of Health Psychology, 21(6), 1004-1014. Web.

Abstract

The research proposal on the police stress within law enforcement provides the reader with the necessary background information in order to let the reader enter into the swing of things. The paper then dwells on the sources that have also approached the issue of police stress among different departments before, and a reasonable conclusion is drawn on the basis of the processed data. The reader gets acquainted with the sample population of the research proposal. There are as well described the methods of research and data collection proposed by the author. The author of the research proposal reaches a rational verdict concerning the insinuations of further investigation and discusses the present strengths and limitations of the study.

Introduction

Every time someone calls 911, they want their emergency to be dealt with professionally and handled proficiently. The police will rush to the robbed workplace, the firefighters will promptly drench a burning household, the ambulance staff will take care of an injured person and quickly take him or her to the closest hospital. People believe that this is how it should always be and take these services for granted because of the talent and devotion of the employees who mostly put their life on the line for the sake of public wellbeing.

Both male and female workers are regularly exposed to different kinds of distressing events and everyday gravities that necessitate self-protective durability of attitude, character, and extensive training (Paton & Violanti, 2012). They would not be able to do their jobs efficiently if they did not have the determination. Every now and then, though, the stress is overwhelming, and the very durability that enables smooth working in their regular responsibilities now becomes an impairment to these assistants seeking assistance for themselves. Police officers are often described as the staff that is exposed to the maximal number of stressful situations. Obviously, it is critical to recognize how to provide the best available psychosomatic services to the officers who are trying to cope with the accumulated stress.

It is important to know more about the topic for the reason that it is a rather awkward situation when the person that is usually seen by society as tough and ready to help anyone anytime is himself or herself in the need of help. This oxymoron is what makes this issue so important. The servants of the law suffering from prolonged stress need urgent help. One of the possible solutions could be an attempt to identify stress at an early stage before the stress begins to impact on the performance of the police officer and his or her sanity.

There are many factors that affect the mental state of a police officer from what he or she saw and experienced during the shift to family and personal circumstances. Police officers who faced a serious, stressful situation require immediate professional help, and there should be no exception. One of the possible ways of finding new strategies for dealing with stress in police officers can be the review and analysis of the literature written by the authors who previously conducted research on this topic and offered their vision of the situation regarding the stress within law enforcement.

Literature review

Research on police stress made by Hickman, Fricas, Strom, and Pope in 2011 has been elaborated out of some hypothetical backgrounds, but the factual base is restricted by a usual dependence on self-statement stress assessment. Their research defines an inventive approach to reviewing police stress that tries to surpass some of these restrictions by turning to a thorough, instantaneous, and spatially fixed evaluation of an officer’s stress reply during the shift. The officers’ heart rate has been picked as the evaluation measure. A preliminary study was limited to using just one officer in order to understand whether this procedure is practicable for impending research.

The test study confirmed that incessant heart rate measurement during the control officer’s workday was conceivable. It has also been found that the data could be operated in the time-space framework for the purpose of studying possible major stress catalysts. The study discusses the most likely positive sides, limitations, the issues that could be encountered in the process of implementation, and forthcoming guidelines. In conclusion, the results show that the practice is both practicable and appropriate for methodical revisions of police stress, with the possibility to extend our understanding of the main causes of why officers are affected by stress (Hickman et al., 2011).

Lucas, Weidner, and Janisse in their 2012 research point out that the differences between employees and workplace sources of stress both contribute to seeing a job as stressful. Nevertheless, the comparative importance of these factors causing the work stress is not well outlined. Furthermore, the extent to which work stress also echoes exclusive matches between particular employees and workplace sources of stress is also blurred. In this research, they used a theory of generalizabilization to stipulate and associate sources of discrepancy in stress accompanying the police work.

One hundred and fifteen US police officers provided the estimates of more than fifty stress sources normally related to the policing responsibilities (Lucas et al., 2012). The major and minor stress evaluation rankings showed variances among officers in predispositions to commonly see the sources of stress as battering (15–16% officer outcome), and, correspondingly, the prevailing opinion among the officers that several stress sources should be seen as more stressful than others (19–20% stressor effect).

A supplementary investigation discovered distinct differences and stressor features linked to the respective discrepancy constituent, together with officer-stress source dealings. This can be seen if one compares the officers showing a low level of anxiousness to the exceedingly anxious officers. The latter gave lower scores to the majority of the stress sources and mostly seen them as not grave or important. The research also suggests an approach that would embrace the nonstop review and assessment of the stress sources.

Yun, Kim, Jung, and Borhanian in 2013 conducted research in South Korea that featured a sample of police officers. They were driven by the possibility to inspect whether police stressors discovered in the American works are as well valid in the South Korean setting. A sample of the officers in an urbanite city testified the incidence with which they had been meeting the seven types of police sources of stress and professed the somatization warning signs.

The study found that workplace-personal struggle and oppression at the hands of people were called the most momentous forecasters of officers’ stress-associated somatization indicators (Yun et al., 2013). Dissimilar to the US studies, the existing study did not expose the regulating effects of managing strategies and societal support. Nevertheless, the effects of the stress sources on somatization indications were intermediated by critical coping approaches. This study backs the extensive literature review on police stress factors.

Regehr, Leblanc, Barath, Balch, and Birze in their 2013 study wanted to comprehend the phenomenon of psychosomatic pain and physical stress in police communication operators better. One-hundred and thirteen police communication operators from both country and city areas completed surveys that addressed emotional anguish (severe nervousness or misery), strategies to deal with stress, and the degree of control. The operators showed a high predisposition towards the post-traumatic stress disorder but had levels of nervousness and despair that were within regular limits.

Levels of stress and downheartedness improved with years of service. Emotion-absorbed coping was the sturdiest prognosticator of PTSD, nervousness, and unhappiness. The styles of dealing with stress were not related to physical stress (Regehr et al., 2013). Social sustenance was harmfully connected with despair; inner control was undesirably related to downheartedness and nervousness, but not post-traumatic stress or cortisol. For the reason that coping strategies are adjustable, they have to be the emphasis of workplace intercessions with the purpose of justifying the risk of anguish as a result of employment.

In 2014, Patterson, Chung, and Swan presented efficient research that was conducted to inspect the impact of stress coping strategies on outcomes among police officers. The examination methods involved going through digital catalogs, periodicals, websites, and communicating with the authors. Incidence criteria were experimental studies and any kind of stress coping intercession given to police officers or citizen law administration staff.

The sample contained 900 partakers, with an average age of 34 years, and an average of 10 years of serving in the police. The middling interval of the intrusions was 11 hours with a series of 30 minutes to 24 hours. Overall, 220 impacts were inspected during the investigation and analysis of the results (Patterson et al., 2014). Effect proportions were considered discretely for physical, psychosomatic, and behavioral results. The overall results of the research let the academics suggest that the interventions were not resultative. Mediator analyses outcomes did not demonstrate any evocative differences.

Summary

All five research papers provided great insight into the problem of dealing with stress within law enforcement. The strong point, in this case, is the fact that the literature review dwelled on a variety of police departments. This allows the researcher to evaluate the current situation in the key police departments and estimate the possibility of stress occurrence. Five different approaches to the issue that are presented in the papers provide an insight into the problem of dealing with stress and calculating the possibility of its relapse.

The general state of affairs, possible coping methods, and stress level assessment methods are also reviewed in the paper. There is a gap in the reviewed literature that is expressed by the uncontrollability of the emotional background of any police officer. This feature does not allow the researcher to evaluate the seriousness of the police officers’ stress and its enormity fully. Future studies might advance knowledge in the subject area with the use of approaches that would be aimed at preventing the stresses, not assessing them after the event.

Application

As for a social science researcher, the way to go about studying this topic might be a long time analysis of a certain sample of police officers. This approach would help to find a possible pattern in the genesis of various stresses that inevitably appear throughout the police officer’s employment. The study should be as precise as possible in order to make it probable to foresee the display of the stresses in both the officers that are less and more likely to be overrun by a stressful situation. This essentially should be done with the purpose to help those police officers who are on the edge of indulging in stress or were exposed to a stressor.

The police officers from the sample should be continuously surveyed to an extent where it is evident that the officer got rid of the stress or was able to avoid it successfully. The sample should be a number of 100 to 150 police officers that can also be (but are not obliged to) divided into three groups that would include a control group, a group of experienced police officers, and recruits. This approach would help in elaborating on a coping strategy in addition to the probability of finding the stress genesis pattern.

One of the reasonable opportunities to lead the research would be a careful assessment of patrol officers and police detectives on duty and off duty. It might be one of the most productive ways to research the subject for the reason that these particular police officers encounter the most stressful events in comparison to their colleagues from other departments. Each and every day for these police officers is the nonstop exposure to the risks which eventually outgrow into major stresses.

It should also be noted that the work in the police leaves an imprint on an individual’s personality. The same can be told about the personal life experience that also has a lot of impact on the psychological health of a police officer and his or her family’s well-being. Another reason is to pick police detectives and patrol officers for the research purposes for the fact that these two departments possess an enormous array of stresses that are linked with human behavior and interaction compared to other departments where it is not so explicit.

The data collection procedure should be simple, yet effective. The author of the research proposal, on one hand, chooses the approach where the police officers sample fills in the surveys and they are thoroughly reviewed afterward. When the researcher processes the data, there is going to be the possibility to put down a matrix reflecting the results of the research. On the other hand, there is a possibility to observe and follow the officers’ behavior patterns and their ability (or the lack of it) to withstand a variety of stressors and subsequent stresses.

This would be helpful from the inspector’s point of view and provide the researcher with the necessary visual data that could be translated into the factual conclusions regarding the premises to the stressful situation and the ways of coping with its consequences. The author of this research considers the mixed approach that embraces both methods described above to be the perfect strategy in figuring out the risks of being exposed to a stressor and coping with it afterward.

Conclusion

The author of the research proposal suggests a method of calculating the foreseeable stresses in advance. By further researching the topic, the author of the research reached a verdict that the issue of police officers dealing with different types of stresses is inevitable but rarely turned to. The projected strengths and limitations of the proposed study are, consequently, the versatility of the research methods and the human factor.

The versatility of the research is an obvious advantage as the researcher receives a big amount of data from the research sample. When the outcome processing is over, the researcher is going to be able to draw accurate conclusions with no allegations. The limitation of the study is presented by the human factor due to the fact that the researcher cannot evaluate the survey error percentage. Of course, a reasonable error percentage can be accepted, but this would not let the research provide the percentage of error that would be 1% or even less.

References

Hickman, M. J., Fricas, J., Strom, K. J., & Pope, M. W. (2011). Mapping Police Stress. Police Quarterly, 14(3), 227-250. doi:10.1177/1098611111413991

Lucas, T., Weidner, N., & Janisse, J. (2012). Where Does Work Stress Come From? A Generalizability Analysis of Stress in Police Officers. Psychology & Health, 27(12), 1426-1447. doi:10.1080/08870446.2012.687738

Paton, D., & Violanti, J. M. (2012). Working in High Risk Environments: Developing Sustained Resilience. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Patterson, G. T., Chung, I. W., & Swan, P. W. (2014). Stress Management Interventions for Police Officers and Recruits: A Meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 10(4), 487-513. doi:10.1007/s11292-014-9214-7

Regehr, C., Leblanc, V. R., Barath, I., Balch, J., & Birze, A. (2013). Predictors of Physiological Stress and Psychological Distress in Police Communicators. Police Practice and Research, 14(6), 451-463. doi:10.1080/15614263.2012.736718

Yun, I., Kim, S., Jung, S., & Borhanian, S. (2013). A Study on Police Stressors, Coping Strategies, and Somatization Symptoms among South Korean Frontline Police Officers. Policing Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 36(4), 787-802. doi:10.1108/pijpsm-03-2013-0020

Introduction

The police and the representatives of the general public interact rather often, but their relations tend to differ greatly depending on the situation. Some people tend to have rather positive attitudes towards these professionals because they consider them to be the main force of protection. Others believe that the police do not operate well and underlines the fact that it is not able to fulfill its main goals and satisfy the needs of the population. Another group of people treats the police as enemies because they represent opposite sides. As a rule, people’s considerations depend on their personal experience, so they are extremely biased.

Analysis

In order to become a police officer, a person should be honest, motivated, self-asserted, emotionally stable, just, intelligent, and have good communicational skills. It is generally believed that such a person will be able to avoid those issues that are faced by the police, including:

• Discretion. Some officers tend to get too involved in the case they are dealing with that they start judging people not on the basis of rules and evidence but focusing on their personal beliefs and judgment. Rather often such behavior is affected by the nature of the committed crime, the personality of the victim and suspect/offender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity, etc.
• Job stress. Police officers are involved in various events that affect their emotions and mental health. They experience high levels of stress because of the things they see every day. Thus, it is vital for them to resort to stress management, including proper nutrition and regular physical exercises. In addition to that, it will be rather advantageous if they receive more free hours to get in an appropriate condition or even consult a professional.
• Corruption. Unfortunately, some police officers get involved in illegal activities and become criminals themselves. Some of them just agree to take some small amounts of money or accept favors offered by people they interact with while others seek for opportunities to make money from people. However, high moral standards, discipline, and law enforcement can help the government to take this issue under control.
• Excessive force. Some officers use too much force towards criminals, which is both unethical and illegal. As a result, they can face legal issues and citizens’ resentment.
• Professionalizing law enforcement. Professional accreditation may be needed for the police to prove their skills. However, people should realize that some mistakes can be made unintentionally and can be forgiven while others should not be tolerated and require legal investigation.

Conclusion

To ensure that police officers act ethically, it is critical to maintaining a particular hiring procedure. They all should be well-educated people who have been taught how to make ethical decisions in different situations. They should not waste time thinking how to act in case of emergency and need to think of the happiness of the majority but not of the personal profit. Unethical behaviors, in which some officers can be engaged, should be controlled and appropriate punishment provided so that they do not repeat. Fortunately, Americans tend to be satisfied with the police and their work. Applicants are thoroughly selected and accomplish different tests to prove that they can become police officers. To avoid the main issues faced by the police, it is critical to resort to stress management and organizational change. Still, there is always room for improvement, and other approaches can be considered.