ABSTRACT
Stress is equivalent to a person's perception of the pressure upon them, or the 'three-way relationship between demands on a person, that person's feelings about those demands and their ability to cope with those demands'. In general, stress occurs in situations where the workload is high, control over the workload is limited, and too little support or help is available. It is important to distinguish between an occasional event or task that creates the highest levels of stress, and those that account for the most frequent reports of stress. Pressures and problems at home often overflow into how someone feels and performs at work, and the effects of stress at work are often taken home and unfairly dumped there. Research into stress has shown that people with the best social supports, who interact well with other people, are able to cope with stress and are least affected by it.
