PSYCHOSOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF CHRONIC STRESS IN NURSING.
Contributors: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 124
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Symptoms related to chronic stress and post-traumatic stress were investigated in registered nurses working on intensive care and nonintensive care burn wards and compared to comparable nurses assigned to selected intensive care and nonintensive care wards.

Self-report questionnaires assessed job stress, job satisfaction, stressful non-work events, emotional support, coping style, symptoms associated with chronic stress, behaviors associated with post traumatic stress, and demographic data.

It was hypothesized: (1) Burn nurses would report more job stress and symptoms and less job satisfaction; (2) there would be a positive correlation between job stress and outside stressors; (3) emotional support would be inversely correlated with job stress; (4) nurses reporting more stress would use fewer coping responses and that the predominant coping style would be emotion-focused; (5) nurses reporting less stress would use more coping responses and that the predominant coping style would be environment-focused.

Two analytic designs were used: (1) location of assignment (burn versus nonburn) by category of nursing care (ICU versus NonICU); and (2) location of assignment by level of job stress. Burn nurses were not more stressed or dissatisfied than Nonburn nurses. A significant difference was found on the job related stress scale. Both Nonburn groups reported higher levels of job stress than did both of the burn groups. Nonburn nurses reported significantly more anxiety than did Burn nurses. Burn nurses reported significantly less avoidance behavior than did Nonburn nurses. There were no differences on the job satisfaction scale.

There was a significant difference between the high and low stress groups: the high stress group used more emotion-focused responses. A positive correlation was found between job stress and outside stress. An inverse relationship was found between job stress and emotional support.

Psychosocial factors (nonwork stress, sex, years of experience as an R.N., and emotional support) contributed 50.6% of the variance in job stress. Location of assignment (Burn, ICU, and the interaction of the two) added an additional 5.6% to the variance. This suggests that working in a burn unit is less of a factor in determining work stress than is psychosocial status of the individual nurse.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-06, Section: B, page: 2342.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIFORMED SERVICES UNIVERSITY OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES, 1987.

School code: 0888.