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Examining the Nature of Work Stress: Individual Evaluations of Stressful Experiences and Coping

Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Business Studies, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Recent reviews of occupational stress research constantly emphasizes four important themes. These include the need to clarify what we mean by stress since how we define it influences how we research it and thus how we explain our results, the need to reconsider how we measure stressors, the need to explicity recognize the role of coping by developing measures of coping strategies, and the need to consider the role of alternative methodologies in investigating the stress process. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies are used to explore some of these issues. The results point to the value of using qualitative measures to assess the validity of current research practices. A number of issues emerge. When measuring work stressors, more attention should be given to such facets as intensity, frequency, and the meaning individuals attribute to events. Coping also influences individual meaning and future research should explore the nature of direct action and palliative strategies and more thoroughly investigate the appraisal process and its role in shaping stressful events.

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