Stress and Adaptation Essay Example

Stress and adaptation are two sensitive topics which need to be addressed. There are many circumstances which trigger one to feel stressed, and equally as many situations where someone struggles to adapt. If not properly taken care of, this can result in a frightening piece of a person’s life. Ultimately, this could lead to unsolved lifelong problems. These two ideas begin targeting the teenage population. In fact, a 2013 survey completed by APA found that 83% of the teens they surveyed claimed to be stressed (Alvord and Halfond, 2019). Given that a teen might not get “a grip” on how to healthily cope, stress could follow him or her throughout their lifetime. 

The teenage population is at a higher risk to not only feel stressed, but also withhold adaptation issues. The Lynn Taylor textbook states that stress is “a condition in which the human system responds to change in its normal balanced state”, and adaptation is the “adjustment of living with other living things and environmental conditions”. Big life changes will contribute to the adaptation theory in anyone's life. If the teenager’s parents decide to divorce, if one or both parents die, or if anyone dies that is close to them for that matter, adaptation will need to take place. The teen was used to the way his or her life was before and this is new. It needs to be dealt with in a safe way to avoid issues. 

Whenever someone hears the word “stress”, most of the time his or her immediate thoughts are actually associated with the word distress: the stress that occurs unnaturally and is harmful (Derrickson and Tortora, 2017). In all honesty, distress is what teens will start to experience as they age. In addition to that, more than likely if a teen has to adapt to something new, good or bad, he or she will be in a state of distress. Upon advancement into young adulthood, there will be a lot of changes occurring in the bodies of teenagers. Since prolonged stress could result in mental health problems and high blood pressure, intervention is more than necessary for this target population (Alvord and Halfond, 2019). 

To be successful nurses and understand what teenagers are going through in relation to stress, nursing students must take time to carefully review details, critically think, and to use evidence based practice tactics when coming up with interventions. As the ANA Social Policy Statement entails, nurses should listen with concern, try to relate/understand why that the teenaged patient may be feeling as they do, and to provide a respectful relationship with the patient. To discover the best interventions, a nurse will include each part of the nursing process in her practice (assessment, diagnosis, outcomes identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation) (Neuman 2010). 

References

Alvord, Mary, and Halfond, Raquel. “How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Stress.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, 24 Oct. 2019, www.apa.org/topics/child-development/stress. 

Derrickson, Bryan, and Tortora, Gerard J.. Principles of Anatomy & Physiology. 15th ed., Wiley, 2017. 

Neuman, Catherine E. “Chapter 1 Nursing's Social Policy Statement.” The Essential Guide to Nursing Practice, 2010, pp. 1–9. 

Taylor, C., Lynn, P. & Bartlett. Lippincott CoursePoint for Taylor: Fundamentals of Nursing.  (9th edition) [CoursePoint]. Pg. 17, (2019) . Philadelphia, PA. https://coursepoint.vitalsource.com