A 6 page research paper that defines and summarize research pertaining to burnout in general and not just within the nursing field. The writer argues that examination of the research and theory pertaining to stress and burnout, leads to a more comprehensive understanding of this topic, and can aid in formulation of strategies that can help prevent burnout in nurses. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_khbrnou2.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
frequently used interchangeably by both scholars and the general media, they are not precisely the same thing. Stress generally refers to the physiological responses experienced by an individual to stress
factors that are found in the work environment. While stress factors certainly contribute to causing burnout, it is also true that different individuals respond to the same stress factors in
different ways. This suggests that examination of the research and theory pertaining to stress and burnout, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of this topic, can aid in formulation of
strategies that can help prevent burnout in nurses. Hans Selye, a Vienna-born, Prague-trained physician and biochemist, began developing his ideas on stress factors, "stressors," and their physiological effects on
the body in the 1930s. According to Selyes theory, different stressors, such as "cold, heat, solar radiation, burns (or) nervous stimuli," produce a generalized response from a biological organism, which
works to "perform certain adaptive functions" which are designed to "reestablish normalcy" (Stress and Deprivation, 2005). As the organism reactions to the stressors, defense mechanisms come into play. The hypothalamus
is stimulated, exciting a chain of effects, such as the adrenal glands producing corticoid hormones, which, in turn, cause somatic reactions such as gastrointestinal ulcers (Stress and Deprivation, 2005). Selyes
concepts dominated the field of stress research beginning in the 1950s; however, by the 1970s, there was opposition to Selyes stress model due to its "conceptual inconsistencies" and Selyes "shifting
and sometimes contradictory formulations" (Stress and Deprivation, 2005). An alternative model for the effects of stress was proposed by George Engel and his colleagues at the University of Rochester
Medical Center, which they termed "conservation-withdrawal" (Stress and Deprivation, 2005). This model, like that of Selye, also concentrates on psycho-biological threats, but rather than positing that stressors result in hyper-arousal,