Job stress management in forest administration chief officers in Turkey

Authors: İLKER AKYÜZ

Abstract: Employees in all sectors are constantly under stress. This stress can be a result of job, organization and environmental factors. In addition, stress can have certain negative consequences and individuals use different methods to cope with them. In this study, the symptoms of stress and the stressors to which forest administration chief officers are subjected and their strategies for overcoming the stress were investigated. The research was designed as a field study and was conducted using via questionnaire. The study?s sample consists of forest administration chiefs in Turkey. Four hundred and forty survey forms were assessed and all the statistical analyses of the surveys were performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 19 packaged software. As a result, it was determined that the general stress level of forest administration chief officers was relatively high and the stress factor with the highest mean score was stress associated with organizational (internal) characteristics. The general level of stress-related symptoms caused by the stress factor was relatively low. The mean score of stress symptoms related to health was the highest and lowest mean score was that of stress symptoms related to work. Low levels of stress symptoms indicate that forest administration chiefs have successfully implemented stress management techniques. They were the most confrontational with stress and utilized positive thinking techniques in regards to coping with stress. In addition, stress factors and stress symptoms differ statistically by the region in which the participants work. Significant relationships were also found between "stress factors" and "stress symptoms and stress management techniques".

Keywords: Stress, stress symptoms, stress management, forest chief officers

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