Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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on the use of the word stress within modern language means that there is
a great deal of confusion surrounding the area. This everyday and blasé
use of the word is one of the reasons why it is at times so extremely
difficult to define stress as the word creeps into daily usage.
Use of the word stress in such an everyday way decreases the
potency of the word, and in everyday conversation people may be heard
speaking of stress in a manner other than how it is used in scientific
literature. The word is used throughout many different types of literature,
with the lay person often referring to stress as any mildly irritating issue,
academics defining stress due to the theory that they decide to adopt
when teaching or researching the subject, and medical and health
professionals perhaps taking another view. While it would be irresponsible
to claim that any of the definitions used is incorrect, this mishandling
seemingly detracts from the serious nature of the stress phenomenon,
meaning that it is often misused and misrepresented in everyday
language. However, the scientific literature which is directly related to
stress also plays a part in the confusion over the use of the word.
A further reason why it is often considered difficult to define a
construct such as stress is that there are numerous, varying and often
competing theories. Each definition has its own method of
conceptualising and rationalising the phenomena, and as such each has
its own understanding of what stress is, what causes stress and therefore
different definitions of stress (Rice, 2000). There are many different
models of stress across the medical, health and occupational literatures
(amongst others), each with a differing emphasis. For example, health
psychologists explain the physiological and psychological basis of stress in
relation to various health and medical outcomes, whereas others such as
organisational psychologists investigate the antecedents and
organisational outcomes related to workplace stress (Millward, 2005). As
such it is important that some of these differing theories are understood
and explained in order to ‘settle on’ a definition applicable to this study.