Boostress_ebook

Page | 17 www.boostress.eu Of the 20 young professionals who responded to the research questionnaire in Ireland, 35% or, 7 out of 20, stated that they do not currently experience stress in their job; with the remaining 65% of respondents experiencing stress as part of their work. Of those young people who stated that they do experience stress in the workplace, 5 stated that they experience stress on a ‘weekly’ basis, 4 on a ‘daily’ basis, 3 on a ‘monthly’ basis and 1 young employee stated that they experience stress in work every hour. Of this research group, 95%, or 19 out of all 20 respondents, stated that they have never completed training to help them to cope with stress. The one respondent who did complete training on this topic further explained that when she worked on a yacht, there was a psychologist on-board who coached them to work with difficult people and customers. 85% of respondents had never received support from their employer to help them to manage stress; and of the remaining 3 respondents, only 2 individuals mentioned that they have completed a short one-day course on stress management provided by their employer, when asked to provide information on the support they received. They did not provide any additional information on the topic or purpose of the training. When asked if this support was helpful to the employees to support them in managing stress; one individual stated that this was not helpful because ‘it was not comprehensive enough’. Survey respondents were next asked to mention any online resources or tools that they were aware of to help young people to manage their stress. This question received limited responses with only 10%, or 2 respondents out of 20, stating that they were aware of any online tools; and of these respondents 1 mentioned the BooStress project as an online resource that they are aware of, and the other stated: ‘there are plenty of courses and relaxing techniques that can be applied for people to reduce stress at work: online training, books, sport or gym sessions, swimming, listening to music, relaxation classes involving breathing, etc.’ but they did not provide any specific details of online resources. However, when asked if they were aware of any specific tools and resources to help them to manage their stress, 7 out of 20 young professionals answered positively to this question; and when probed, they listed the following resources: stress app on my phone; meditation app on my phone; guided meditation through YouTube; relaxing at home; hobbies; football; meditation - learning to control your mind and learning that other people’s opinions or attitudes have nothing to do with you; rule your mind or your mind will rule you; regular exercise as it relieves stress so as not to bring the stress home. While these responses show the different strategies and coping mechanisms which young people use to help them to overcome and manage their stress, this question did not elicit the type of responses that was intended among the research group in Ireland; as we do not have a comprehensive list of available tools and resources for young people to help them in managing stress. As a follow-up question, young professionals were asked if they had any coping strategies in place for when they experience stress. As indicated by previous responses, almost half of all survey respondents (45%) had strategies in place. These included meditating ever day at lunch break or in the evenings; regular physical exercise; prioritizing and making to-do lists to manage work load; talking to friends and family for support when stressful situations arise; practicing breathing techniques to calm down when stress occurs; dealing with one stress source at a time; taking a break and looking at a problem from the broader perspective helps. This shows the range and scope of coping strategies that young employees in Ireland are already using to manage their stress. Next survey respondents were asked to comment on more practical issues related to developing the BooStress training materials. They were asked to highlight their training needs in relation to stress management, to rank the top 3 skill areas where they would like to receive additional training and to comments on their preferred format for training materials. While these recommendations are included in the latter section of this eBook, the general feedback from the Irish survey respondents included that they would like additional training in the areas of: talking to an employer about stress; the impact of stress on health; strategies for coping with stress; strategies for managing long-term stress; maintaining