What is the hypothesis?
The article, What is stress? How to deal with stress explains the meaning of stress and dealing with stress. According to the article, people use the word “stress” when they feel something is wrong (Nordqvist, 2009). It further explains that anything that posse threat or challenge to human well-being is stress. However, this article focuses on the stress that is harmful to the health. The hypothesis of the study is that how we respond to stress affects our health. People have varying interpretations of stress; with some focusing on what happens to us while other focus about the event itself. The most important variable is our thought about the situation we find ourselves.
What are the variables?
According to the study, there are three variables. The first variable is that we do not all interpret each situation in the same way. Because of this, each situation requires varying level of resources, and that we do not all have the same skills and resources. Perception of tress is the significant variable that affects mental or physical health. Taking a negative approach to challenges will eventually have a negative effect on your health and happiness. According to the study, perception of stress affects heart attack and psychological stress ay play a role in breast cancer aggressiveness. According to a study by the University of Western Ontario, people who view stress as cause of their health problems are twice likely to have a heart attack (Nordqvist, 2009). Another research also found that stress maybe associated cancer aggressiveness among minority populations (Nordqvist, 2009).
What research method was utilized in the study?
The researcher uses qualitative research to help understand and deal with stress. The research method applied in this study is correlation, which refers to measuring the extent to which two variables relate. This study attempts to how response to stress affects health. The study found a positive relation between perception to stress, and physical and mental health of an individual. The study draws information from past research to construct the variables and show their relationship. The study proposes that a negative response to challenges will eventually translate to a negative effect on individual health and happiness. On the other hand, the study agrees that positive perception to stress can help manage stress more successfully. The study attempts to measure the extent to which the variable relate.
Who were the participants?
The study was conducted on the general population drawing participants from several previous researches. Most of the studies used in the article do not specifically define the participants on the study. For example, a study conducted by University of Western Ontario only mentions the results of the study. One study cited in the article used minority populations as its participants when investigating the relationship between stress and cancer aggressiveness. The study did not specifically identify the participants, but instead used the general population to measure how perception to stress affects the health of an individual. The researcher collected information from past researchers and through observation of the general population.
What is the summary of the findings?
Stress affects the body in many ways, including headache, fatigue, loss of libido, anxiety, anger among others. People react differently to stressful situations and what one person find stressful may not mean the same to another person. Some of the causes of stress include family problems, bereavement, illness, and relationships. It is possible for people to experience stress but fail to identify clear cause. A patient may use the services of a physician to diagnose stress based on the symptoms of the patient alone. The study found that perception or response to stress affects our health. Ways of dealing with stress vary and they include self-help, self-management, and medication.
Limitations of the study
The main limitation to this study is the generalization effect. The generalizability of the findings from this research is limited because they were generated in an exploratory qualitative inquiry. The research design used by the researcher was not intended to produce results that predict or account for the behavior of a wide classification of people as in the case with most hypothesis-testing studies. This became an evident problem from the outset of the study. However, despite generating a Grounded Theory that can apply to practical experiences, it could be relatively convenient to design a series of focused hypothesis-testing studies to experimentally verify and expand the theory generated here.
What could be possible extensions to the research?
This study was an exploratory qualitative inquiry into establishing how perception of stress affects health and how to diagnose and treat stress. The study could have extended the research to include factors that determine perception to stress. This could involve assessing how patients react to stress and predict ways of controlling reaction to stress. Future studies might consider using longitudinal check-ups on patients to explore if and how long-term after-effects actually occur. This could help determine if perception of stress affects the risk of developing heart attack.
Reference:
Nordqvist, C. (2009).What is stress? How to deal with stress. Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/145855.php
