Browsing by Subject "stressinhallinta"

Aims. The aim of this thesis was to consider whether interventions based on mindfulness are effective in job stress management. Job stress causes harm both to the working individual and the organisation as well as the whole society. The individual consequences of job stress include coronary heart diseases, which are the main cause of death in our societies, and burnout, a clinical condition that can be compared to depression. This thesis emphasises the individual aspect and management of job stress. Mindfulness aims at concentrating on the exact moment and accepting all emotions and stimuli in that moment. Mindfulness is seen as a skill that can be trained. The emphasis of mindfulness training is on different types of meditation, and the trainings can also include yoga or journaling. Originally mindfulness evolved from Buddhism and it was first used in clinical practice for patients with chronic pain. Mindfulness as an intervention is currently used in a variety of other contexts, such as depression, anxiety and job stress. Concerning job stress, mindfulness is seen as a cost-effective and an easy method to be put in practice even at the workplace. Mindfulness can be a more approachable intervention compared to for example psychotherapy. Methods. The results of the thesis, which was executed as a literature review, were gathered from several review articles and meta-analyses. Only research on working adults was included in the results section. Results and conclusions. Considering the results, mindfulness is quite an effective method in managing job stress. However, the effects found so far are only moderate and there is not enough evidence on longitudinal effects of mindfulness on job stress. Longitudinal effects on meditation have been found, which points at possible future findings also in mindfulness. Also, the mechanism of mindfulness is still unclear: the question of why mindfulness is beneficial and effective in job stress management has also been raised. Mindfulness is thought to affect the health positively through changes in for example attention, sleep quality and self-compassion. More research in job context is still needed to determine this, and future research should concentrate on distinguishing the effects of mindfulness on behaviour, cognition and emotions on job context.