Stress management in European countries and US

Abstract

In recent years, job stress and stress management have emerged as key issues in health promotion in the workplace in all of the post-industrialized countries. In the EU, the European Survey on Working Conditions has reveals that stress and musculo-skeletal disorders are the main health risks at work. In the US, NORA (national occupational research agenda) identifies 21 research priorities, in which "organization of work" is included as a job stress related factor. In this paper, trends and characteristics in occupational stress management in western countries, especially in the EU are overviewed. Presently, most stress management activities are oriented towards secondary or tertiary prevention, and are worker-oriented. But in future, priority strategy for intervention should be primary prevention, and focused on the organization as the generator of risk. In the group of countries paying a lot of attention to work stress, health policies or legal framework at the national level and a variety of activities for stress prevention at the company level are well integrated. By analyzing various stress management cases or projects, key factors for a successful approach to stress prevention are extracted as follows: 1. A stepwise and systematic approach, 2. clear determination of aims, tasks, responsibilities, planning and financial means, 3. An adequate diagnosis of risk analysis, 4. A combination of work-directed and worker-directed measures, 5. A participative approach, 6. Top management support. Costs-benefit assessment should be introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of stress prevention and to promote more integrated approaches in the workplace.