Health Promotion : Stress Management Programs.

Employee Wellness Programs should include stress management programs at the environmental level and at the individual level.

Social, physical, and organizational stressors should be explained and methods to ease or elevate stressors should be presented. At the individual level how changes in attitudes and behaviors help one to cope with stressors; learning techniques to minimize stress response, such as meditation, relaxation response, and exercise.

Content of the stress management program ought to provide the following -

• Identifying sources of stress

• Relationship of stress to health

• How the individual experiences stress, personal, family, work

• Solutions for coping and managing stress

• Techniques for decreasing stress

• Value of stress, both negative and positive

• Practical steps of incorporating stress reduction into lifestyle

Personnel conducting stress management programs should have training in psychology, behavioral sciences, or related disciplines such as mental health specialists, counselors, health educators, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Training in a reputable program on how to teach the stress management course including group process skills is a must.