The relationship between occupational stress and mental health among nurses working in different hospital units
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Chen, Yi-Chuan
Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate general occupational stress in nurses, and variation of occupational stressors and mental health status among nurses working in different hospital units. Methods: The study population was all qualified hospitals of New Hospital Accreditation between 2010 and 2013. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey using systematic sampling method was performed in North, Central, South and East Taiwan. Questionnaires were delivered to the study hospitals units including general wards, gynecology and pediatric wards, acute psychiatric wards, chronic psychiatric wards, intensive care units, outpatient department, operating room, emergency department, dialysis center, respiratory care unit and others. The questionnaires include the Nurse Occupational Stressor Scale (NOSS), occupational burnout inventory, Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) and demographics. The JMP version 10.0 statistical software was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics include demographics, distribution of nursing occupational stressors, mental health status, expressions of occupational stress and intention to leave. Logistic regression was used to identify the predictive factors for nurses’ intention to leave their jobs. Results: A total of 1,867 questionnaires were eligible for final analysis, resulted a high response rate of 79.3%. The mean age was 33.5 years (SD 7.4), and the average work tenure was 10.9 years (SD 7.3). The average working hour per day was 8.7 hours and 45.2 hours per week in 8-hour shifts. In 12- hour shifts, the average working hour per day and per week were 12.4 hours and 57.3 hours. The mean NOSS score was 61.7 (SD 4.1). The major occupational stressors were different across units. “having to bear negative sentiments of patients and/or of their relatives,” “emotional wording of physicians,” “compulsory alteration of family activities due to work responsibilities,” “having to be a substitute for other specialized units,” “poor workplace relationships with colleagues,” and “the patient might have contagious disease, such as SARS and AIDS” were the most common occupational stressors, and of which were classified as “Occupational Hazards” subscale of NOSS. Of all participants, 4.2% self-reported to be in good health, while 34.3% reported to have minor mental disorders associated with depression and anxiety, and 7.1% in severe condition. Conclusions and Recommendations: Nurses with mean NOSS score of 20% tile (≧72) were more likely to have personal burnout, client burnout, psychiatric morbidity, stress, job dissatisfaction, and intention to leave. The nursing occupational stressors were different across hospital units. The significant stressors of general wards were associated with occupational hazards and workload. The unique stressor of emergency department was “psychosocial harassment at work”. In summary, mental health status of nurses were different across hospital units, periodically identify nursing stressors using NOSS and to to improve working environment for nurses are warranted.
Subjects
nursing staff
the Nurse Occupational Stressor Scale (NOSS)
occupational stress
mental health
hospital units
SDGs
Type
thesis
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