A Videotape Module to Teach Assertion Skills1

Effect of web-based assertion training for stress management of Japanese nurses

AIM AND BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of web-based assertion training programmes for Japanese hospital nurses based on their assertion knowledge, attitude and behaviour, job stress and depression. Job stress has been reported to be high among Japanese hospital nurses, and it is thought that assertion, one type of communication skill, could help nurses to better manage their job stress.

METHOD

Twenty-five nurses from an urban tertiary hospital in western Japan completed the 70-minute assertion programme during 3 weeks. The changes between pretraining and post-training and between pretraining and 1 month after the training were tested.

RESULT

Results showed that assertion knowledge and voluntary behaviour in assertive behaviour had increased at post-training and remained higher a month later. With regard to job stress, mental workload decreased.

CONCLUSION

The results show the effects of web-based assertion training on assertion skills and stress management for Japanese hospital nurses.

Chronic Stress and Social Changes: Socioeconomic Determination of Chronic Stress

In the last decades in the transforming societies of Central and Eastern Europe, premature mortality increased dramatically, especially among men. Increasing disparities in socioeconomic conditions have been accompanied by a widening socioeconomic gradient in mortality among men. Social cohesion and meaning in life may help to counterbalance the widening gap in material circumstances. Not the difficult social situation in itself, but the subjective experience of relative disadvantage, the prolonged negative emotional state, that is, chronic stress seems to be the most important risk factor. The health consequences of a low socioeconomic situation among men might be mostly explained by chronic stress caused by work and close-partner-related factors, and the toxic components of this interaction are depression and hopelessness. In the case of women, the broader personal and family relations are the most important health-related factors. Weekend workload, low social support at work and low control at work accounted for a large part of variation in male premature cardiovascular mortality rates, whereas job insecurity, high weekend workload, and low control at work contribute most markedly to variations in premature cardiovascular mortality rates among women. There are two general approaches that scientists and practitioners might take: train individuals and groups to use skills that will enable them to cope better with the stressful conditions that are damaging their health; and lobby governments to adopt policies that will result in decreased chronic stress on the societal level.

Psychosocial benefits of three formats of a standardized behavioral stress management program

OBJECTIVE

Psychosocial factors are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in healthy and clinical populations. Behavioral interventions are needed to train the large number of people in the community setting who are affected by stressors to use coping skills that will reduce these risk factors. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of three forms of delivery of a standardized, behavioral intervention-the Williams LifeSkills program-designed to reduce levels of psychosocial risk factors in nonclinical populations.

METHODS

One hundred ninety-six participants screening positive for elevated psychosocial distress were randomized to either a waitlist control group or one of three intervention groups: the LifeSkills Workshop, the LifeSkills Video, or the LifeSkills Video and Workshop combined. Psychosocial risk factors were evaluated at baseline and at 10 days, 2 months, and 6 months after the training/wait period.

RESULTS

At 10 days follow up, the workshop + video and video-only groups showed significant improvements over control subjects in trait anxiety and perceived stress. Moreover, the workshop + video group maintained benefit over control subjects throughout 6 months follow up in both of these measures, whereas the video-only group maintained benefit in trait anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

Because the psychosocial well-being of two of the treated groups improved over that of the control group, it appears that the Williams LifeSkills program accelerates and maintains a normal return to low distress after a stressful time. This is the first study to show that a commercially available, facilitator- or self-administered behavioral training product can have significant beneficial effects on psychosocial well-being in a healthy community sample.