Evidence Base Nursing Paper
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Evidence Base Nursing Paper
Introduction
Stress can have detrimental influences on individuals’ health, hence, should be managed properly and effectively. Stress is perceived as how one’s body reacts to harmful situations (Joseph & Irons, 2018). When people are stressed, chemical reactions may happen in the body that allows them to behave in a certain way. How stress affects people are based on various individual and environmental factors. It might affect one’s whole life including emotions, thinking, behavior, and physical health (Joseph & Irons, 2018). Ongoing or chronic stress may lead to several issues including mental health problems. Most people around the globe are stressed and a significant number lack adequate coping abilities.
Cultural Problem
The selected cultural group is African Americans. This cultural group was selected because it is among the many groups in America whose members experience severe stressful situations. According to Wright et al. (2020). African Americans experience racial discrimination leading to increased depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic stress, and anxiety among other things. Many African Americans experience negative or inadequate coping and about 18.7 % of them have mental health problems as a result of negative coping. Brenner et al. (2018) state that some of the negative or passive coping strategies include blaming one’s self, and ignoring the harmful situations or causes of stress. Therefore, the identified problem that needs focus is the inadequate ability to cope with stress among African Americans.
Possible Solution to the Problem
Unfair treatment such as discrimination is the main cause of stress in African American population. The proposed solution is taking to others to seek support and advice. Ojebuoboh et al. (2021) investigated how talking to others in response to unfair treatment can influence reported depressive symptoms and perceived stress levels in African Americans. The sample were 376 African American adults aged 30–55 years old. The participants resided in the southern region of the United States. The authors tested the evidence through linear regression models to assess the association between talking to others following unfair treatment, compared to keeping it to oneself, on self-reported depressive symptoms and perceived stress (Ojebuoboh et al., 2021). The predictor variable was a question asking patients whether they often talk to others or keep the stress to themselves after undergoing an unfair treatment.
The researchers learned that talking to others after being treated unfairly was inversely associated with depressive symptoms and perceived stress. Therefore, the researchers concluded that African Americans who talked to others in response to discrimination or unfair treatment experienced lower perceived stress and depressive symptoms than those who just kept it to themselves (Ojebuoboh et al., 2021). They recommended that more outreach to African Americans is required to inform them of the importance of talking to others in response to unfair treatment as a potential coping mechanism.
Expert Opinion
According to CDC (2021), many people are challenges that are stressful, hence, developing strong and lingering reactions. These conditions may be overwhelming, causing strong emotions both in dolts and children. Due to a lack of knowledge or guidance, people lack adequate coping strategies to improve their health situations (CDC, 2021). There are several solutions to the problem that victims of stressful situations can apply to improve their conditions. Patient education is necessary to educate them about many solutions to healthy coping strategies.
All African American patients may receive education regarding health coping strategies for stress. Patients should take care of themselves by eating healthily, going out for exercise, getting plenty of sleep, and giving a break if they feel stressed (CDC, 2021). Talking to others is important, especially, friends, doctors, parents, or pastors. Another strategy of coping healthily is by connecting to faith-based or community organizations. These institutions encourage people and also encourage interactions with others. According to (CDC, 2021). these strategies have been proven to be effective in improving the coping ability of diverse patients. The information in this expert opinion provides a better understanding of the problem as well as the best solutions.
Relevant Client Values
The values of individual patients or clients have an impact on their ability to cope with stress. For example, people who talk to others may have more positive coping experiences than those who keep words to themselves (Joseph & Irons, 2018). Those going out for exercise, eating healthy, and being connected to the community or faith-based organizations may better cope with stress than those who do the opposite. Some of the questions nurses may ask are those related to talking to other people, exercise, and diet. The sources in this paper explain the problem from the patient’s view.
Conclusion
To execute the proposed solution (talking to other people), the nurse should organize patient education explaining to them the importance of talking to others when discriminated against or treated unfairly. The patient education may be administered to all African American patients reporting to the facility regardless of the medical condition they have. This strategy will improve clients’ ability to cope with stress.
References
Brenner, A. B., Diez-Roux, A. V., Gebreab, S. Y., Schulz, A. J., & Sims, M. (2018). The epidemiology of coping in African American adults in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS). Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 5(5), 978-994. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6060024/
CDC. (2021). Coping with Stress. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/copingwith-stresstips.html
Joseph, K., & Irons, C. (2018). Managing stress. Palgrave.
Ojebuoboh, A., Gonzalez-Feliciano, A., Brown, K., Khan, R., Xu, R., DeRoo, L., … & Davis, S. (2021). Association of Active Coping to Unfair Treatment with Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms in African Americans: MH-GRID Study. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03772-y
Wright, K. D., Jack, A. I., Friedman, J. P., Jones, L. M., Sattar, A., Fresco, D. M., & Moore, S. M. (2020). Neural processing and perceived discrimination stress in African Americans. Nursing Research, 69(5), 331.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7483233/