ABSTRACT
The rising numbers of working women in Jakarta indicates that women are currently holding many roles in their lives. It increases the risks of these women to experiencing role overload and distress. The distress that are experienced by these women has the potential to bring negative impacts onto themselves, their babies, their partner, family, and even their colleagues. It is also known that the administration of an intervention using stress management techniques has become one of the alternatives to help multiple-role mothers to manage their stress levels. This study was carried out by modifying the Living SMART stress management techniques. The purpose of this intervention is to provide techniques that can assist the process of emotional adjustment and to reduce the distress levels of multiple-role women, particularly for working mothers in their post-partum period. The Living SMART stress management program that has been modified is called the ‘Stress Management Program for New Moms’. The program was implemented for five group-intervention sessions, each lasting for 90 minutes. The results indicated that stress management interventions have some positive impacts on the participants, which include improvement in the ability to identify and recognise the stressors experienced during stress reactions, reduced stress levels, and the ability to cope with stressors.
