STRESS MANAGEMENT
On 27th April 2022, the School of Human Resource Development and Psychology (SHARPS), Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in collaboration with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), Arizona State University (ASU) and Southeast Asia Mental Health Fit (SEA MeH Fit) project had successfully organized an online workshop with the theme “Stress Management” under the SEA MeH Fit for the ASEAN region (Malaysia chapter).
This program was conducted virtually via Webex.com from 8 am to 6 pm in three different sessions with a total of 159 participants (50, 52, and 57 participants, respectively). Special appreciation to Dr Chuck Chuan Ng as the Country Lead Project Coordinator from Xiamen University Malaysia, who provided the opportunity for all participants to join this program to learn more about stress management.
The first session was conducted between 8 am and 10 am by Ms Nur Indah Sukir, a lecturer and program coordinator for the Bachelor of Psychology, Educational Psychology program at the University of Cyberjaya.
The second session was carried out from 11 am to 1 pm by Dr Junaidah Yusof, Project Manager and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UTM.
The final session was conducted from 4 pm to 6 pm by Dr Endang Retno Surjaningrum, Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Research, Innovation and Community Development, Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia.
There are five main outlines of stress management: stress, stressor, stress-performance curve, strain, and coping with stress.
The information on stress management given by these prominent speakers was indeed useful to the participants as part of the learning for relaxation such as meditation, prayer, and positive thinking to cope with the challenging daily stress by implementing appropriate time management techniques with no procrastination and to prioritize tasks using a to-do list.
Throughout the workshop, all speakers used interesting presentation slideshows to ensure a smooth learning process for the participants to pick up the contents easily. The speakers also incorporated the Wh-questions technique to draw the audience’s attention, such as “What is psychological health?”, “Where is the point of eustress and distress in the curve?”, “How about spiritual factors?”, “How do you relieve your stress?” and “What is the definition of coping?”.
Besides, the speakers also conducted several engaging activities with the participants. For instance, during the sub-topic of stressors, speakers asked the participants to think about the stressors in their daily lives and illustrate the model of stressors individually.
The participants got to know and learn about the stress process by understanding the effects of stress due to strain, while the stressor triggered the cause of stress. Moreover, stressors also can be further divided into three parts which include biological, psychological, and social stressors.
According to the feedback and survey gathered from the participants, most of the participants found the workshop to be informative, well-explained and relevant for them since almost everyone nowadays does not know how to manage their stress. Upon attending the workshop, most of the participants obtained new knowledge and found suitable ways to manage their stress better in dealing with their daily routines. Some of the participants also feel calmer and more relaxed after listening to the speakers who are really experienced in their field of expertise.
To sum up, most participants know how to control their emotions and identify the root cause of their problems, especially for students who often feel stressed due to overloaded academic assignments and lack of knowledge to cope with stress in their daily lives.
