Work Stress, Culture, and Leadership
Authors: Esquivel Mariana I. Vergara 
Published: December 2016

The increasingly diverse population presents challenges that require building a Culture of Health through Mindfulness into Action (Vergara's methodology). Previous studies suggest (Vergara, 2016a; Vergara, Wallace, Du, Marsick, Yorks, Gordon et al., 2016b; Vergara, Parks, Reyes, Tamariz, 2016e; Vergara, Tjernstad, Mac Quarrie, Tamariz, 2016f) that Mindfulness into Action (MIA) disrupts unconscious bias and facilitate a cultural humble stance that gives the potential to foster taking a perspective during this modern fast paced dynamics in life with chronic stress. Chronic stress refers to high stress sustained over extended periods of time. Chronic stress occurs among adults, but among young people more frequently, and it is more closely related to maladaptive health behaviors and mental health problems, than acute stress, or episodic triggers of stress (Leonard, Gwadz, Ritchie, Linick, Cleland, Elliott, & Grethel, 2015; Carter, Garber, Ciesla, & Cole, 2006). Children in poverty are more likely to experience both chronic and acute stress than their affluent peers (Almeida, Neupert, Banks, & Serido, 2005). Ross recognizes that removing bias and understanding the cultural patterns creates greater equity; however, disparities persist (2014, p. xii). Health People 2020 (HP 2020) was developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and commits to eliminating the “range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors” that prohibit a person from attaining health, and implement policies that “achieve health equity” for all Americans. Braveman states that health equity means “no one is denied the possibility to be healthy” (2014, p. 6). The 2012 Institute of Medicine report highlights a need to reduce health disparities by identifying various “intervention strategies to improve health outcomes in vulnerable populations”, highlights persistent and significant gaps between the quality of health care people should receive, and the quality of care they actually receive (p. 76). Currently, there is great disparity in health as we address external factors, however an additional approach that addresses factors from within is needed to build a culture of health. Dees describes about how beliefs about health and disease vary across cultures, ethnicities, races and faiths (2007, p. 34). However, it is common for people to have an ethnocentric approach regarding health. An ethnocentric approach can be a source of conflict. “Belief regarding health, illness and healing vary among different cultures” (Dees, 2007, p 35). Chakkarath (2009) suggests that Western psychological concepts no longer are the only valid scientific concepts inside the discipline. Further, he suggests that psychology as a discipline can only profit from an indigenous approach because it can introduce traditions of thought and alternative empirical and theoretical approaches that can both challenge and contribute to psychology's universalistic orientation. For that reason, by paying attention to our wholeness and factors from within, the Mindfulness into Action methodology includes indigenous practices from America, Africa, and Oceania (Vergara, 2016b).