Often in the face of extreme stress or an external crisis, it is not uncommon to focus on being grateful for your health in an attempt to minimize the situation’s impact. However, as previous weeks of this course indicate, health is far more than just an absence of disease or injury. Rather, health includes a continuum of wellness influenced by many life characteristics.

Managing stress is as personal as the stressor itself. The populations health psychology professionals serve are changing, making the need for a variety of stress management techniques even more crucial to maintaining health. For example, people are living longer and require more chronic disease management. Also, there is an increase in the number of ethnic minority groups, those living with disabilities, and those living in poverty. As a result of merging cultures, health issues ripple across the globe.

Public policy, education, training, research, advocacy, and program development and application are all ways in which health psychology professionals can promote positive social change. As a future health psychology professional you should begin thinking about how you can apply topics within stress and coping to promote positive social change. Based on your interests you may choose to develop an education program on sleep hygiene or become an advocate for CAMs.

For this Discussion, review this week’s Learning Resources. Search the Walden Library for a stress management technique you have not previously researched in this course. Consider possible barriers to the effectiveness of this technique. Then select a topic within the area of stress and coping and consider how you might apply this topic to positive social change.