MANAGING OCCUPATIONAL STRESS - A NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Theoretical models of occupational stress are important because they s uggest a focus for intervention, and inform practice. The gap between research and practice was exposed most recently by Burke (1993) claimi ng ''little awareness of research findings by practitioners (managers, consultants, clinicians), little intervention activity being undertak en at the organizational level, little research being undertaken to de termine the effectiveness of individual level interventions, and only modest use of work research findings for intervention and policy devel opment'' (p. 85). This paper discusses the issue of intervention, and examines values, assumptions and the politics of applied research. A c ritical review of the evaluation studies of individual vs. organizatio nal level interventions is undertaken and finally the problem of occup ational stress as a national and international issue is considered.