Le paradigme stress-coping, une contribution complémentaire des sciences sociales et des sciences infirmières au développement des connaissances

Abstract

This article provides an illustration of the combined contributions of social sciences and nursing in the development and application of knowledge. More specifically, the article presents a discussion of the respective contributions of the social sciences and nursing in the development of knowledge about the stress-coping paradigm. First, the significant role of the social sciences in initially developing the concepts of stress and coping is revealed through a review of different research perspectives considered to date, most notably in sociology and social psychology. After presenting some key markers in the development of nursing as a professional discipline, this paper illustrates how work developed through multidisciplinary efforts in the area of social sciences is pertinent to the development of theory, empirical research and the practice of nursing. The singular contribution of nursing to the development of knowledge in stress-coping is emphasized. The author concludes by noting that the discipline of nursing is somewhat similar to social sciences and shares some common interests, notably with regard to phenomena such as reaction to stress. The concepts of stress and coping are thus situated at the juncture of two bodies of knowledge.