Evaluation Of Handbook

INTRODUCTION

In the modern world, stress plays a more and more important role in everyday life. It affects every aspect of human behavior including work and social behavior. The real question is what creates this stress and how can we minimize it. This is not a simple answer since the reasons that produce stress are infinite.

They can be:

* Work related

* Family oriented

* Economic

* Social

* Health related

* Etc...

Every one of these has a very big impact in both the person affected and in the society as a whole due to the results stress has in the productivity of the person involved. The effects of stress can be numerically represented by the economic loss due to reduced productivity, augmentation of absenteeism , etc...

The Stress Prevention Activities (SPA) program is a Multinational Project run within the framework of EU program LEONARDO DA VINCI and its objective is the awareness of the public in work stress risks and their effective reduction.

In this evaluation of the Handbook produced by SPA we use as criteria its validity from both scientific and pedagogical point of view, its appropriateness for end users and our overall opinion about the product with relevance to the specific needs it was designed for.

PRESENTATION

The Handbook is a tool designed mainly for managers. Its target audience involves also trainees, teams dealing with work related stress and simple persons interested in stress prevention.

The main goal of the Handbook is to give an overall view of work related stress. It is divided in 5 chapters:

* Introduction

* Work related Stress

* Assessment of stress

* Risk management

* Prevention measures

It also contains questionnaires, exercises and references for further reflection.

The Handbook was developed in 4 languages, English, Finish, Czech and Greek. Due to language limitations we were able to evaluate only the Greek and English versions of the Handbook.

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS

The Handbook starts with the first chapter that is the Introduction. In the introduction, there is a brief statement about the work conditions in Europe and how work stress affects them. There are also stated some of the problems created by work related stress and it is described how important the EU citizens consider work related stress through a survey in the new EU Member States consider stress. Afterwards the contents of the Handbook are presented with little detail and in conclusion is presented the European Project that constituted the framework in which this Handbook was developed.

In the second chapter, there is a more thorough reference into stress in general. There is the definition of stress, the causes of work related stress, its consequences in the persons and in the company and ways to point stress and the reasons that produce it.

The third chapter deals with the assessment of stress related risks. It begins with the assessment of the risks in the work environment and it continues with the main principles in risk assessment. Afterwards it states the six steps in order to asses risks.

In chapter four, we have risk management and its evaluation. It starts with the management cycle of risks, it goes on with the basic steps of risk management, and it ends with ways to evaluate the risks through information flow and in company training.

The fifth and final chapter deals in work related stress prevention measures. In the beginning, it shows the measures to be taken in order that work related stress problems are to be solved. It continues with provision measures for those who have work related stress problems. It demonstrates how important the culture of a company is in dealing with this kind of problem and how differentiated are the stress levels with the correct organization of the work environment. It ends with the means that must be used in order to successfully manage work related stress.

VALIDITY

Scientific point of view

The information in the Handbook is based on work done by the World Health Organization and the Institute of work, health and organizations of the university of Nottingham. Many accredited scientists were involved in the creation of the Handbook therefore ensuring its scientific soundness.

Pedagogical point of view

From a pedagogical point of view, the Handbook is a complete tool. It uses a structure that enables the reader to think and find the answers by himself. This way the learning process is not stiff but vice versa interesting and energetic.

For this purpose in the Handbook, there is extensive use of tables. Tables make it easier for the readers to understand the concepts involved.

Another aspect that facilitates the learning process is the questions at the end of each chapter. There is no clear answer to them but the reading of the chapter along with some common sense enables the reader to answer