Porfileration of Stress

Stress Proliferation and its Causes

Stress proliferation is the mechanism by which stress is expanded by other factors that make a person develop other forms of stress other than the one they originally created. As a result of this, many other stressors that make them uncomfortable become enmeshed in people who create certain types of stressors. Different research carried out on certain stressors may help recognize the proliferation of stress. Stress proliferation may be caused by certain causes, including divorce, a loved one's death, or financial constraints. If stressors are not properly handled, they can lead to the development of other strains that emotionally and even socially affect the person. Further, they can also result in strains in relationships between people as well as the statuses that are interrelated with what caused the stress in the first place.

Examining Stress Proliferation in Caregivers of HIV/AIDS Patients

The purpose of the study was to examine the processes of stress proliferation in people especially those that are responsible for giving care to people living with HIV/AIDS. In conducting the study, two forms of proliferations were explored. The primary stressors were investigated in the caregivers of patients who have HIV/AIDS as those were the ones that suffered from such stressors most. On the other hand, secondary stressors arose from primary stressors and were mostly associated with other activities that occurred outside of caregiving. The expansion of such stressors is due to the demands that are related to taking care of people with HIV/AIDS. Stress proliferation can also arise from activities such as leisure and social life that are related to the caregiver when they are not taking care of their patients (Pearlin, Aneshensel, & Leblanc, 1997). In the study assessing the causes of the proliferation of stressors, this can shed more light on the connections that exist between stress and health.

Findings of Stress Proliferation in Caregivers of HIV/AIDS Patients

The study came up with various findings of stress proliferation in caregivers of HIV/AIDS patients. Firstly, the study provides an insight that enables researchers to trace and interpret the relationship that exists between hardship and distress. This is important as it can inform of the conditions that are relevant to distress and also of the relevance. Secondly, the study was able to come up with different pathways, either direct or indirect, that are related to depression. Certain conditions that are not thought to be directly linked to depression were found to be instrumental in the creation of stress (Pearlin, Aneshensel, & Leblanc, 1997). An example is the level of demand that acts as a right lever to stress proliferation even though it has no direct relationship with depression.

Minimizing Stress Proliferation and the Role of Stress Researchers

The study is important as it gives individuals insight on how to minimize the expansion of primary stressors as well as in the generation of secondary stressors. One of the methods that can be undertaken is the use of naturalistic interventions to cure stress that may be effective in functioning. The proliferation of stress may also be inhibited by different forms of social support that may either be formal or informal, instrumental or expressive. The study also gives illumination on the roles that stress researchers play in preventing and coming up with intervention programs that are meant to help people with stress (Pearlin, Aneshensel, & Leblanc, 1997). Therefore, simple approaches to the management of stress can be devised by studying the relationship between social and experimental forces that occur daily in people's lives.

Discussion Questions

The discussion questions that arise from the study are; what is the relationship between stress and depression and what method could be used to ensure that stress does not develop into depression? The second discussion question is what can be done to determine whether a person is suffering from proliferated stressors so that they cannot be treated with the other individuals who have not developed primary or secondary proliferated stressors.

Reference

Pearlin, L., Aneshensel, C., & Leblanc, A. (1997). The Forms and Mechanisms of Stress Proliferation: The Case of AIDS Caregivers. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38(3), 223. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2955368