How do you deal with stress? Part 4: Results
[This part of the project was completed by Sarah Norman and Rumilla Uddin, in collaboration with Dr Iona Beange and Dr Pippa Thomson of The University of Edinburgh and the Community Wellbeing Collective.
This post follows on from How do you deal with stress? Part 3: Researcher Feedback & Pilot }
Data Collection Process
We invited people to write down their answers in a colour and format of their choosing on a blank piece of paper, rather than giving them a pre-designed form to fill in. Answers were written down anonymously, but people were invited to openly discuss whatever they felt comfortable with sharing afterwards; instead of doing one discussion phase at the end, we facilitated a short one at the end of each question, while their experiences and reasoning were still fresh in their minds. Although every participant’s list of stressors was unique, there were many common threads. Therefore all of the answers given to question 1 can be grouped into categories:
Emotional States:
Fear – 15
Worry – 100
Uncertainty – 30
Lack of control – 50
Social & Relational Challenges:
Peer pressure – 10
Needless pressure – 10
Toxic/unhealthy relationships – 75
People that lie – 20
Aggressive authority – 60
People misunderstanding me (managers) – 20
Disrespect – 35
Discrimination – 35, 40
Injustice – 25
Feelings of Being “Behind”
Not knowing what I need to know – 50 (chronic)
Lack of planning – 60 (chronic)
Dealing with other peoples’ lack of timeliness – 70 (acute)
Being late – 100 (acute)
Time pressure – 90
Lack of time – 30
Family
Having to manage elderly parents – 40 (chronic)
Parental stuff – 50
Supporting friends with their problems – 50
Too many needy children at once – 45
Misbehaving pets – 15
Health & Wellbeing Concerns:
Managing a long term disease I can’t control – 30 (chronic)
Health – 100
Health concerns incl family – 100
Poor sleep – 20
Not getting enough sleep – 10
Death – 35
Technical challenges:
Tech not working – 40 (acute)
Websites not working – 5
Feelings of overwhelm:
Too many tasks at once – 75
Responsibilities (work + voluntary work, admin incl personal, life) – 50
Too many commitments – 30
Sensory overload – 90
Challenges in the Home Environment:
Mess and clutter – 40
Keeping my home tidy and functional – 15
Home losing heat – mould – 20
Not having enough space – 40
Personal Responsibilities:
Paperwork – 30
Future planning – 70
Money spend – 50
Reflections on the Data
We really see the value of having personal discussions of lived experience to contextualise the numbers in the entry “future planning”; on its own this could be interpreted as a general stressor, but we know from context provided during the discussion phase that this is actually a reference not to trying to plan a future to live in, but actually planning a future in which this person may or may not be alive due to a battle with terminal illness. When we see this data through the lens of lived experience, our approaches to managing this stressor may differ completely.
Another example of this is the entry “death”, which without context may have been assumed to be a bereavement and grouped in the “social and relational challenges” or “family” categories, but that we learned from listening to the participant in the discussion phase actually referred to the notion of their own death.
One person chose to add whether each stressor was chronic or acute for them in addition to assigning each stressor a number. This ovided additional insight into their lived experience and perception of their stress; while some were intuitive, for example “being late” being labelled an acute stressor, “not knowing what I need to know” and “lack of planning”, which may at first appear to be acute stressors, were in fact described as chronic.
Two participants listed “discrimination” as a stressor, both at similar levels; one person rated it at 35, and the other rated it at 40.
Whats next?
- Dr Pippa Thomson has included reference to this work in a recent research grant pre-application and as a result of these conversations, included social isolation as a key influence across her research questions.
- Although Pippa originally recommended a 1-10 stress scale, she is now more open-minded about a larger 1-100 scale and the advantages this could bring.
- Discussions are ongoing around how Sarah and Rumilla may be able to continue to be involved in stress/mental health research.
- The Community Wellbeing Collective continues to host wellbeing discussions and to be a place where anyone can come to feel accepted and listened to.
Related Blog Posts
How Do You Deal With Stress? Part 1: Selecting the question
How do you deal with stress? Part 2: Designing Questions
How do you deal with stress? Part 3: Researcher Feedback & Pilot
(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)
(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)
