**Kavitha Palaniappan**

**1**

**Chapter 1**

Introductory Chapter:

Coping Strategies

*Kavitha Palaniappan*

**1. Introduction**

Occupational Stress and General

The American Psychological Association's Dictionary of Psychology defines Occupational Stress as "a physiological and psychological response to events or conditions in the workplace that is detrimental to health and well-being" [1]. Such responses do vary from individual to individual, and it depends on several factors such as the level of autonomy, responsibility and independence that the individual has in his or her workplace, the amount, pace and type of work that needs to be performed, the level of safety and security associated to the work and finally the relation-

ships that the individual maintains with his or her colleagues and supervisors. Occupational stress may manifest itself in one or more of the following three different ways: (i) physical strain—affecting the various parts of the body and this is the most common way by which occupational stress manifests itself. It can range from having mild headaches or body pain to severe migraines; (ii) psychological strain—affecting the rationale thinking abilities of an individual and can lead to loss in memory and concentration or depression and anxiety; (iii) behavioral strain causing a change in the usual or normal habits of an individual, like, for example, binge eating or starving, excessive or loss of sleep, ignoring to perform regular tasks

The necessity to study occupational stress stems from the fact that it can have significant effects on both the physical and mental wellbeing of an individual and also an impact on the productivity of the workplace, which can have a negative impact on the global economy in turn. The Safety and Health at Work team of the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that the direct and indirect costs of occupational

The "State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report" by Gallup reports the results of the worldwide survey on the workplace wellbeing and shows that around 44% of the employees experience occupational stress around the world. Looking at some of the important factors that could have contributed to the occupational stress from the study, the United States and Canada have the highest regional percentage of engaged employees (33%), whereas Europe has the lowest regional percentage of the engaged employees (14%). Engaged employees refer to the employees who enthusiastically participate in all the activities of their work and are happy as their basic needs are met and are able to contribute positively to the organization. We could consider the second important factor as the percentage of employees living comfortably on their

stress are in the range of billions of dollars annually all over the world [2].

or duties and avoiding responsibilities and absenteeism.

Assistant Professor, Centre of Regulatory Excellence, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
