Stress Awareness Month 1st – 30th April 2021

According to the Stress Management Society (SMS), Stress Awareness Month has been held every April, since 1992 to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic. Despite this running for 29 years we have got a long way to go. According to the Mental health Foundation 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.

A survey recently conducted by the SMS in partnership with Huawei AppGallery, identified that 65% of people in the UK have felt more stressed since the COVID-19 restrictions began in March 2020.  The three key causes for concern are feelings of disconnection, uncertainty, and a worrying loss of control.

One campaign running this year is ‘The 30 Day Challenge’ encourages you to pick one action each for your Physical, Mental and Emotional Wellbeing to carry out every day. Such actions could even be used on your social and spiritual wellness too.

It takes 30 days to turn actions into habits, which is why this is a month-long programme.  The 30-day challenge will maximise your chances of turning useful knowledge and techniques into positive behavioural change.

For more information surrounding Stress and Stress Management, please visit the Stress Management Society and NHS Choices websites:

 https://www.stress.org.uk/stressawarenessmonth/

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/feelings-and-symptoms/stress/

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/stress/

 RELATED LIBRARY RESOURCES

For anyone studying the importance of improving both the awareness and knowledge of and supporting those who are suffer from stress and its related health conditions, the Health Libraries both at the Royal Stoke and County Hospitals offer numerous resources related to the subject. In the lists below you’ll find a variety of items as well as information on materials recently added to our collection and available periodicals. To locate these items, simply go to our online catalogue or ask at the counter.

 BOOKS:

• Managing stress : principles and strategies for health and well being  / Brian Luke Seaward, 2018; 9^th edition [Burlington, MA : Jones & Bartlett Learning]

• Why zebras don't get ulcers: the acclaimed guide to stress, stress-related diseases, and coping / Robert M. Sapolsky, 2004; 3rd ed [New York : Owl Book/Henry Holt and Co.]

• Principles and practice of stress management / Paul M. Lehrer (Editor), Robert L. Woolfolk (Editor), Wesley E. Sime (Editor), 2007; 3rd ed. [New York: Guilford]

• Transforming nurses' stress and anger : steps toward healing / Sandra P. Thomas, 2009; 3rd ed. [New York: Springer] - Also available as a Keele and NHS E-book

• A short journey into trauma : understanding and coping with post-traumatic stress / Frank Parkinson, 2017 [London: Merlin Press]

• Surgeon heal thyself : optimising surgical performance by managing stress / Uttam Shiralkar, 2016 [Boca Raton : CRC Press]

• People Skills / Neil Thompson, 2015; 4th ed [New York : Palgrave Macmillan] – e-book.

JOURNALS:

• Work and Stress / Abingdon, Oxon, UK : Routledge, Taylor & Francis. [Available as a Keele ejournal 1997 onwards, and as a NHS ejournal 1999 onwards with 1 year & 6 months embargo].

• Stress: the international journal on the biology of stress / Abingdon : Taylor & Francis. [Available as a Keele & NHS ejournal 2002 onwards with 1 year & 6 months embargo].

• Journal of traumatic stress / Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley Subscription Services, Inc. : International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. [Available as a Keele ejournal 1997 onwards, and as a NHS ejournal 1997 onwards with 1 year embargo].

• Anxiety, stress, and coping / Abingdon :Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. [Available as a Keele ejournal 1997 onwards, and as a NHS ejournal 1997 onwards with 1 year & 6 months embargo].

• International Journal of Stress Management / New York, N.Y. : Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. [Available as a Keele & NHS ejournal 2003 onwards].

• Journal of Stress Physiology and Biochemistry / Irkutsk : Sibirskiĭ instittut fisiologii i biokhimii rasteniĭ. [Available as a Keele & NHS ejournal 2005 onwards].

Access more journals via our Journals webpage: http://www.keele.ac.uk/healthlibrary/find/journals/

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

• McEwen, Bruce S., “The good side of “stress”, Stress: the international journal on the biology of stress, 2019, Vol. 22, (5), p. 524–525. [Available via Keele & NHS ejournals].

• Kornelsen, Emily; Claire, Buchan M; et al, “Hair Cortisol Concentration and Mental Disorder in Children With Chronic Physical Illness”, Chronic Stress, 2019; Vol. 3 . [Available via Keele & NHS ejournals].

• Dungan, Kathleen M et al,  “Stress hyperglycaemia”, The Lancet (British edition), 2009, Vol.373 (9677), p.1798-1807. [Available via Keele & NHS ejournals].

• Monroe, Scott M ; Harkness, Kate L, “Life Stress, the "Kindling" Hypothesis, and the Recurrence of Depression: Considerations From a Life Stress Perspective” , Psychological review, 2005-04, Vol.112 (2), p.417-445. [Available via Keele & NHS ejournals].

• Haines, Victor Y., III; Doray-Demers, Pascal; et al, “Nonstandard work schedules, resource shortfalls, and individual/family functioning”, International Journal of Stress Management, 2020, Vol. 27(4), p. 346 –357. [Available via Keele & NHS ejournals].

• Sharma, Manoj ; Rush, Sarah E, “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as a Stress Management Intervention for Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review”, Journal of evidence-based complementary & alternative medicine, 2014-10, Vol.19 (4), p.271-286. [Available via Keele & NHS ejournals].

• Lupe SE, Keefer L, Szigethy E., “Gaining resilience and reducing stress in the age of COVID-19”, Current Opinion in Gastroenterology, 2020 Jul;36(4):295-303. [Available via Keele ejournals].

• Köpsén S, Sjöström R., “Patients' Experiences of a Stress-Management Programme in Primary Care.”, Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 2020 Feb 21;13, pp.207-216. [Available via Keele & NHS ejournals].

PATIENT INFORMATION / PATIENT ADVICE:

• Mind – How to manage stress https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/stress/signs-of-stress/

• NHS Inform – Struggling with stress? https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/mental-wellbeing/stress/struggling-with-stress

• NHS website – Stress https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/feelings-and-symptoms/stress/
• 10 stress busters https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/tips-to-reduce-stress/

• NHS Evidence – stress with ‘Information for the public’ filter https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/search?om=%5b%7b%22ety%22:%5b%22Information%20for%20the%20Public%22%5d%7d%5d&q=stress&sp=on

• Patient Info – Stress management https://patient.info/mental-health/stress-management
• Stress search results https://patient.info/search.asp?searchterm=stress%20and%20anxiety

• How to help children cope with stress and anxiety during the pandemic https://patient.info/news-and-features/how-to-help-children-cope-with-stress-and-anxiety-during-the-pandemic

• Help Guide – Stress symptoms, signs and causes https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-symptoms-signs-and-causes.htm

CURRENT AWARENESS:

Health Library current awareness service:

• Mental Health https://www.netvibes.com/healthlibrary_northstaffs#Mental_Health

Health Library at County current awareness service:

• http://www.protopage.com/pgmclibrary