The Blue Dot Stress Management Project: A Health Promotion Protocol for Health Care Professionals

The relationship between stress and illness has been investigated in a significant body of research (Cohen & Herbert, 1996; Lloyd & Blair, 1992; Schaubroeck, Jones, & Xie, 2001; Vollhardt, 1991). This research indicates that stress is a variable in between 70 and 80 percent of all disease and illness. In the next twenty years, the prevalence of stress and stress-related illness is estimated to be second only to ischemic heart disease. Seaward (2004) argues, "Lifestyle diseases, such as coronary heart disease (CHD) and cancer, are leading causes of death; both seem to have direct links to the stress response" (p. xxi). Unlike infectious diseases, which are often treatable by medication, lifestyle diseases are, most often preventable or correctable by altering habits and behaviors that contribute to their etiology (Seaward, 2004). Accordingly, effective stress management strategies utilized as a protocol for health promotion and disease prevention may prove to be significant as scientists and health care professionals address the substantial toll stress takes on the overall health and well being of individuals and organizations.;Occupational stress affects individual's psychological and physiological health and well being, as well as the organization's effectiveness. Health care professionals have a high incidence of stress and stress-related issues. Consequently, the stress inherent in health care negatively affects health care professionals (Shapiro et al., 2005).;The Blue Dot Project© is a stress management protocol for health care professionals in the workplace. It is designed to be used by health care organizations to equip health care professionals with strategies and techniques that promote health through the management of workplace stress. The Blue Dot Project© proposes a bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach to stress management. The utilization of breathing techniques as a core component of this program, with other stress management strategies and techniques, will promote balance in the autonomic nervous system and positively influence psychological and stress-related disorders.;The Blue Dot Project© is not designed to serve as a replacement for other stress management programs but as an essential component of them. The final product of this project will be a workplace stress management manual for health care professionals.