Identification of stress buffers in school-age children

Dealing with stress has become an important issue in health education in community settings. With increasing demands and changes in the daily lives of families, helping children to deal with stress has become increasingly more significant in community health nursing. Nurses who want to mediate effects of stress in children need more information about stress buffers in the daily lives of children. This study attempted to identify and describe stress buffers as actually experienced by school-age children. Qualitative data were drawn from 32 well children, aged 8 through 11 years, by completion of daily semistructured journals over a period of 6 weeks. Diaries produced 764 stress buffer responses. All data were subjected to content analysis. Sixteen categories among four general themes of intrapsychic comfort, physical-social activities, social support, and physical comfort emerged, beginning a taxonomy of stress buffers as perceived by children. Interesting differences between boys and girls were identified, with implications for research and community nursing practice.