In my master's thesis, I investigated in depth the encounter and coping of employees at the youth centre where I do my student work, with stress. In theory, I touched on topics such as the definition of stress, types of stress, symptoms or consequences of stress, stress within the work environment, stress outside the work environment, stress prevention, overcoming stress, overcoming stress in the individual, overcoming stress in the organization, stress and youth work, Public Institute Mladi zmaji and social work and stress. The population in my qualitative research was represented by employees of the Public Institution Mladi zmaji, who have been employed at the Public Institution Mladi zmaji for at least six months. The survey included all employees who are part of this population and who were willing to participate, which was twelve employees out of fifteen. I collected data for my research using the questioning method with a semi-structured interview. Through research, I found that the frequency of feeling stressed at work varies from person to person. When comparing the stress in the current workplace with previous workplaces, different experiences were revealed, namely most of them pointed out that there is much more stress here than in the previous workplace, that there is less stress here than in the previous workplace and that with employment comes stress. The physical changes most people experience during times of stress are insomnia, body stiffness, faster heart rate, tight muscles, shallow breathing, breath holding, sweating, shaking, malaise, tension, and abdominal pain. The emotional changes most people experience during times of stress are irritability, anger, anxiety, low mood, fatigue, feeling like it will never end, depression, dissatisfaction, helplessness, less energy, a drop in motivation, and the fight-or-flight response. The changes at the mental level during times of stress that most people experience are less or more concentration, confusion, less creativity, difficulty making decisions, more negative thinking, forgetting to eat and drink, forgetfulness, finding solutions, thinking about a problem, and poorer ability problem solving. The behavioural changes most people experience during times of stress are lack of proactivity, and broken relationships. No single answer stood out across all levels. When it comes to changes on the physical level during the time when people are not under stress, no answer stood out. Changes on an emotional level when people are not under stress, and which were perceived by most people, are relaxation, calmness, greater self-confidence, more energy and greater motivation. When it comes to changes on the mental level during the time when people are not under stress, and were perceived by the most people, none of them stood out. The change at the behavioural level when people are not under stress, and which was perceived by the most people, is increased sociability. No single answer stood out across all levels. The most frequently exposed factors within the work environment, which most often cause stress to the employee, are administrative work and ambiguity regarding the responsibilities of tasks. The opportunities suggested by the most interviewees to improve the workplace for less stress are clarity, more predictability, better structure, boundary setting and staff reinforcement. Regarding the level of stress in relation to the hierarchy of the workplace, three interlocutors argued that it increases proportionally in the hierarchy, that the load is also in hierarchically lower positions and that with more responsibility comes more stress. The most frequently exposed factor outside the work environment, which most often causes stress to the employee, is the health of loved ones. Factors outside the work environment that most often cause stress to employees are most often triggered daily, once a week or several times a month. The opportunities suggested by the most interviewees for improvement outside the workplace for less stress are more time to rest, time for yourself, doing more fun things that make the person happy and not seeing opportunities for improvement. The areas highlighted by the most interviewees, in the field of work, private life, or both, which they consider to be affected by stress, are relationships (including loved ones), all areas and health. The ways of eliminating
the factors that cause stress are different for everyone. The successful eliminating stressors is mentioned by only two interlocutors. Employees most often pointed out that supervision, interviewing, mobile psychosocial counselling, coaching, health promotion activities at the workplace, support of colleagues and team building help them cope with stress in the work environment. When dealing with stress in a private environment, what helps them is to deal with things that make them happy, such as a walk, nature, meditation, therapy, physical activity, running, reading a book, sleeping, breathing techniques and talking to a partner. When dealing with stress both in the work and private environment, it helps them to talk to someone, to empower themselves through experience, and to use techniques from Resilience training. Half of the interviewees use what already helps them on a daily basis, or they try to use it every day. The interlocutors most often prevent stress or stressful situations by good planning, advance preparation, the use of humour, preventive self-care and the use of techniques from Resilience training. Most of the interlocutors devote time to relaxation daily or several times a week during the week. Additional comments about experiencing stress that were raised by several interviewees are that it is important to remain professional at work and that there are higher expectations of behaviour for employees in positions of power. The frequent experience of stress by on-the-job management and off-the-job field workers suggests a connection. For other positions on the job, I can't say whether or not there is a connection. There was no connection between the length of service on the job and the experience of stress among the employees of the Public Institution Mladi zmaji, as they experience stress with varying frequency. Social workers who are employed at the Public Institution Mladi zmaji experience stress at the workplace and in the private environment moderately often, so it is suggested that there is a connection here. For the rest, there was no connection with other educations, as they experience stress very differently both at work and in the private environment. In the case of an individual who does not see the possibility of improvement in the private, nor in the work environment, due to a very small sample, it is difficult for me to assess whether the result would be the same, if I had more interlocutors who had this answer, so I cannot claim that it is connected. In the case of two interlocutors who do not see an opportunity for improvement in the private environment, the connection was only apparent with frequent experience of stress at work. Interlocutors who use medium frequency, which already helps them, experience stress at work and in their private environment medium often, which indicates a connection. Interlocutors who often use what already helps them, experience stress differently, so there is no connection here.
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