Philip J. Dewe & Michael P. O’Driscoll 
Coping with Work Stress [PDF ebook] 
A Review and Critique

1 Work stress and coping: Setting the scene.
The term ‘stress’.
The costs of stress.
Sickness absence.
Labour turnover.
Presenteeism.
Work and mental health generally.
The changing work context and work stressors.
Work stressors: Some issues.
Changing work stressors.
2 Coping: The measurement debate.
A history and some definitional issues surrounding coping.
Defi ning coping and definitional issues.
The measurement of coping.
Coping checklists.
Classifying coping and creating scales.
3 New directions for coping research.
New developments in appraisal.
The infl uence of positive psychology.
From positive psychology to proactive coping.
Other developments in coping.
Progress towards understanding coping effectiveness.
From stress to emotions to positive emotions and coping.
4 Coping with specific work-related stressors.
Types of coping.
Coping with work stressors.
Coping strategies used by specific occupational groups.
Future directions in research on coping with specific work
stressors.
5 Coping with work-life conflict.
Social support.
Personal control.
Personal coping strategies.
Organizational strategies to ameliorate work-life
conflict.
Conclusions.
6 Stress management interventions.
Conceptual framework for stress management interventions.
Evaluating stress management interventions.
Factors infl uencing the effectiveness of stress management
interventions.
Some guidelines for effective interventions.
Conclusions.
7 Coping with work stress: An agenda for the future.
Continuing debates: Emerging context.
Building a future research agenda from the themes of the
past.
The characteristics of coping and coping types.
Assessment of coping behaviours.
Coping styles versus coping strategies.
The role of meaning in coping research.
Coping effectiveness.
Personal coping versus organizational stress management
interventions.
From stress to well-being.
Conclusions.
References.
Index.

Philip J. Dewe is Vice-Master of Birkbeck and Professor of
Organizational Behaviour in the Department of Organizational
Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London. He is a member of the
editorial board of Work and Stress and the International
Journal of Stress Management, and an Associate Editor of the
American Journal of Heath Promotion.
Michael P. O’Driscoll is Professor of Psychology at
the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He is the co-author of
several books relating to work stress, has served on the editorial
boards of several academic journals, and was editor of the New
Zealand Journal of Psychology, 2001-2006.
Cary L. Cooper, CBE, is Distinguished Professor of
Organizational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University. He is
also Chair of the Academy of Social Sciences, President of the
British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Editor of the
journal Stress and Health and was lead scientist on the UK
government’s Foresight project on Mental Capital and
Wellbeing.