RUFAIDA COLLEGE OF NURSING

JAMIA HAMDARD
DELHI-110062

ASSIGNMENT ON
TRANSACTIONAL MODEL OF
STRESS AND COPING

SUBMITTED TO :
SUBMITTED BY:

MS. BINDU SHAIJU MA’AM CHAITALI

SHANKAR
ASSISTANT PROF. M.Sc Nursing 1st
Year

INTRODUCTION

Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman suggested in 1984 that stress can be thought of
as resulting from an "imbalance between demands and resources" or as occurring when
"pressure exceeds one's perceived ability to cope".

Stress management was developed and premised on the idea that stress is not a direct
response to a stressor but rather one's resources and ability to cope mediate the stress
response and are amenable to change, thus allowing stress to be controllable.

In order to develop an effective stress management programme it is first necessary to

identify the factors that are central to a person controlling his/her stress and to identify
the intervention methods which effectively target these factors. Lazarus and Folkman's
interpretation of stress focuses on the transaction between people and their external
environment (known as the Transactional Model).

Stress is an event that every person deals with on a daily basis. In fact, humans aren’t
the only species to deal with stress.

The Transactional Model of Stress and Coping was originally developed by Richard S.
Lazarus and Susan Folkman, two individuals who wanted to delve further into why
stress is such a prevalent issue in many species’ lives. The theory is essentially, the
transaction relating to stress is between the person and the environment. Depending on
the amount of demands that a person is confronted with and the amount of resources
that they have to deal with the demands, stress may either be in abundance or avoided
entirely.
 Primary Appraisal

The first step to the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping is Primary Appraisal.
During this step, we analyze whether or not a particular situation is something that
effects us personally. You will find that your mind will analyze whether the situation is
significant enough to stress over and there are 3 potential outcomes:

1. It is an insignificant event.
2. The event is a desirable encounter.
3. The event is challenging, threatening, and/or harmful.
 Secondary Appraisal

The second part to stress and coping is when you begin to figure out how you can deal
with the situation to the best of your ability to ensure that you receive a positive
outcome. This is when you will begin to determine whether you have enough coping
resources to get through the event with a desirable outcome.

As an example, if you encounter a stressful situation that you know you do not have the
resources to cope with, you may find yourself unable to cope, thus stress occurs.
 Problem-Based Coping

There are many ways that the human body copes, one of which is problem-based. This
generally occurs when you have control over a particular situation and you know how to
manage the problem to get a positive outcome. You may even find that during this
phase of coping, you develop further skills to help you cope with other situations in the
future. It is used when we feel we have control of the situation , thus can manage the
source of the problem , thus our possible strategies could include:

1. Defining the problem

2. Generating , evaluating alternatives solutions.
3. Learning nw skills to manage stressors.
4. Reappraising –by reducing our ego involvement.
 Emotional-Based Coping

When you realize that you have little control over a situation, you won’t be able to find
the source of the problem which is when you may rely on emotional-based coping. This
is when you may begin to avoid particular situations, distance yourself from events, or
even seek emotional support from others around you. A prime example of emotional-
based coping is if you were to stay away from school because of a bully .

It is used when we feel we have little control of the situation, thus we cant manage the
sources of the problem. It involves gaining strategies for regulating emotional distress-
e.g

1. AVOIDING- “I am not going to school”

2. DISTANCING yourself from the emotion I am not stressed , it doesn’t matter’
3. ACCEPTANCE- ‘ I failed the exam , but I still have 4 other subjects’
4. Seeking EMOTIONAL SUPPORT from your partner.
5. Selective attention.
6. Alcohol.
7. Venting anger.
 Strengths and Weakness of Model

STRENGTHS:

1. It considers Cognitiv approaches as opposed to fight-flight , GAS (controlled by

Autonomic N S)
2. It’s a dynamic model: i.e If factors in the ability for the individual to change their
appraisal and thus their response .
3. It caters for individual differences i.e the manner in which we appraise and cope
with stressor varies enormously.
4. Identifies alternative methods for managing psychological responses to
stressors.

WEAKNESSES:

1. Lack of empirical evidence .

2. Overlap of primary and secondary appraisals (they are interdependent)
3. Difficulty to label factors that determines stress.
 CONCLUSION

Stress is an event that every person deals with on a daily basis. In fact, humans
aren’t the only species to deal with stress. The Transactional Model of Stress and
Coping was originally developed by Richard S. Lazarus and Susan Folkman, two
individuals who wanted to delve further into why stress is such a prevalent issue
in many species’ lives. The theory is essentially, the transaction relating to stress
is between the person and the environment. Depending on the amount of
demands that a person is confronted with and the amount of resources that they
have to deal with the demands, stress may either be in abundance or avoided
entirely.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/
10.1007%2F978-1-4419-1695-2_7

 https://www.slideshare.net/Psyccounting/laza
rus-and-folkman-transactional-model