Stress, a biological response that happens when we are under pressure or in a challenging situation, influences health, disease and well-being. Although it is a natural response, it may become chronic under certain circumstances, in which case, long-term adverse health outcomes may occur (e.g. chronic stress, stressful life events and perceived stress have been associated with cognitive decline and an increased risk of dementia, as well as depressive and anxiety symptoms). As we get older, we face more challenges and are more vulnerable to the consequences of chronic stress which highlights the importance of stress management interventions in older people. Despite the importance of stress management, there are few studies evaluating the effectiveness of stress management training interventions specifically in older adults.
In a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, a team of researchers led by Marie-Josée Richer, Dr Sébastien Grenier and Prof. Dr Pierrich Plusquellec from the University of Montreal (Canada) examined the effects of an innovative programme in older people, initially developed from the DeStress for Success programme aiming at helping teens deal with the stress of transitioning to high school. The study involved 170 older adults. of whom 85.6% were female, 59% lived alone and one-fifth were receiving some type of psychological care during the course of the study. Participants, with a mean age of 76, were recruited at private retirement homes and through community organisations. They followed a six-week stress management programme called O’stress. Of these 170 participants, 90 were in the stress management training intervention group and the other 80 were in the ‘waitlist’ group (i.e. participants who weren’t receiving the treatment but who were on a waiting list to receive the intervention after the active group).
The O’stress programme provided knowledge about stress, stress triggers, recognising physiological reactions in stressful situations, identifying symptoms of stress, and releasing or dealing with that energy in different ways (e.g. emotion-focused or problem-solving strategies). The effect of the intervention was measured three weeks and three months after completing the programme. Three weeks after the intervention, researchers found a significant increase in the use of problem-solving coping strategies among the participants who received the six-week stress management training programme compared to the participants in the waitlist group. Although participants reported using more strategies to prevent or minimise the impact of the future stressors at the three-week post-test, these effects did not persist at the three-month follow-up, which suggests that the effects of the intervention diminished over time. Besides these effects, the team of researchers also found that participation in the programme resulted in decreased feelings of anxiety three weeks after the intervention and decreased perceived stress at the three-month follow-up. Although some of these gains were not maintained over time, the O’stress programme highlights the potential of these interventions to demystify stress and teach techniques to help older adults to cope with it. More studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the O’stress programme in other contexts and populations.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1499609/full