This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Pikó, B. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Work-related stress among nurses: a challenge for health care institutions

Department of Psychiatry, Group of Behavioural Sciences and Medical Psychology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University, Szeged 6725, Szentháromság u. 5. Hungary

The issue of occupation stress amongst care professionals is currently a major concern in health policy. The main goal of the present study has been to investigate the relationship between levels of stress among nurses, and some of the psychosocial and organisational characteristics of their job. The participants of the cross-sectional survey were female nurses (n=218) chosen at random from public hospitals in Csongrad County, Hungary. A self- administered questionnaire was the method used for data collection: this questionnaire contained various items on psychosomatic symptoms, self-perceived health, sociodemographic data, job satisfaction, health risk behaviours, drug consumption, emotional load and social support from peers.

The findings suggest that the frequency of common psychosomatic symptoms (e.g. sleeping problems, tension headache, chronic fatigue or palpitations), regular alcohol drinking, heavy smoking, and frequent use of tranquilisers and sleeping pills can be read as an indicator of nurses' work-related stress level. Nurses with only primary education had the highest such levels, while those with baccalaureate-level education had the lowest. Furthermore, nurses aged 51-60 years and those on rotating night shift proved to be vulnerable to stress the most frequently. However, no significant differences were found between nurses working in- theatre and those non-theatre; nor was job satisfaction found to have a significant impact on the levels of stress experienced.

The results suggest that supportive relationships with peers may reduce the occurrence of high stress levels among nurses, leading the author to conclude that social support and the psychosocial work climate should be improved in health care institutions.

Key Words: Occupational stress • nurses • psychomatic health • shiftwork • social support

The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Vol. 119, No. 3, 156-162 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/146642409911900304


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?