Stress Management Training

The increasing number of research on the connection of stress to one’s physical health has paved the way to the development of a lot of stress management training programs in various organizations. This stress management training incorporates different features of stress reduction and aims to help individuals or workers to be aware of the “nature” of stress and its effects on health, as well as enhance their “stress coping” skills.

Most stress management training programs is a series of weekly sessions where individuals are taught “stress management skills” such as cognitive restructuring, muscle relaxation, meditation, and biofeedback. The majority of the results of these stress management training programs evaluation has showed major changes on the dealings of stress symptoms, as well as stress management abilities after several training weeks.

Although not all stress management trainings are effective, evaluation research implies that trainings that have been “well-designed” and cautiously implemented, has not only reduced individual or employee stress and improved health, but has also resulted in “bottom-line” advantages.

An instance is the holistic stress management training program of Corning’s. Similar to most such trainings, the program impacted emotional and social competencies like self-control, adaptability, communication, and self-confidence. The initial task of the training was to assess the levels of organizational stress accomplished through a climate survey that permitted comparison with nationwide benchmark data.

Early individual interventions centered on educating employees with the basic nature, symptoms, sources, and effects of stress. This was established through a variety of training classes that cored on teaching entrenched stress management skills like biofeedback, muscle relaxation, tai chi, guided imagery, yoga, cognitive restructuring, and meditation.

The goal of the trainings was to promote and strengthen an individual’s potential to experience and understand life events and work situations in a way that would compel one to respond constructively rather than take on a more “non-assertive” blaming standpoint. The majority of sessions were intended for participants to be taught and put into practice the new skills and techniques throughout the sessions.

Trainers for stress management trainings are usually professional psychologists who have had ample years of experience in their specific field of interest. There are other similar stress management trainings designed for employees, which successfully raise the social and emotional competence of individuals in a workplace while equipping them with effective stress management skills. Some studies have also shown that stress management trainings can have positive impacts on objective physiological procedures like adrenaline levels, blood pressure, and electromyography.