The concept of stress and stress management techniques in lay tradition: an ethnographic discourse analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The concept of stress and the stress management techniques are stereotypically alligned with modern lifestyle in the economically developed world.
However it is possible to locate stressful factors and lay stress coping techniques in more archetypal social types, which may contribute to the deconstruction of stress as a disease of the modern civilization. AIM: The present study aims to shed light on the perceptions and experiences of two Greek lay traditions, of Crete and Pontos, through their lay poetry, in respect to stress and the coping practices. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Texts of lay poetry tradition are approached and interpreted employing discourse ana-lysis adopting an ethnographic methodological perspective. A sample of 27 extracts is used in this article, as the most representative of 7 thematic categories that emerged through grounded theory analysis. Systematic analyses of the textual data (1: Crete-Pontos, 2: past-present, 3: urban-rural, 4: native-abroad, 5: lay practices-modern practices) led to drawing the conclusions of this study. RESULTS: The main stressful factors, as emerging through this comparative study of extracts from the lay poetry of Crete and Pontos, are summarized as
follows: immigration, disease, death, love, everyday worries, poverty, separation and war. The lay coping strategies we identified are: blessing, breathing a sigh, laughter, crying, wishes and imprecations and the art therapy (e.g. dance, singing). Those coping techniques are juxtaposed with modern, whether medical or alternative, stress management techniques, locating similarities and differences, CONCLUSIONS: The concept of stress as well as stress coping strategies is possible to be found in preceding social forms, which encourages the deconstruction of this concept with the stereotypical connection with modern lifestyle in the Western world. The knowledge of a population's culture contributes in cultural competence of the health professional who offers services in the multicultural societies of our days.