STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND LOCUS-OF-CONTROL: EFFECTS ON HEAD NURSES' MENTAL HEALTH.
Contributors: University of California, San Francisco.
Published: 1987
Number of pages: 283
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to: (a) determine the effects of work and nonwork stress on head nurses' mental health, and (b) examine the effects of social support and locus of control in mitigating the effects of stress on head nurses' mental health. Hypotheses relevant to these goals were tested, and several exploratory questions were analyzed.

Head nurses (N = 300) from 38 Army hospitals located throughout the United States participated in the study. Both genders were represented with men comprising 21% of the volunteer sample. Most respondents were Caucasian (87.3%) with an average age of 36.93 years. Mailed questionnaire booklets were used to collect data. They contained a demographic survey and six preexisting instruments: The Brief Symptom Inventory form of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, the Life Event Questionnaire, the Administrative Stress Index, Rotter's locus of control measure, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire and Caplan's "People Around You". Sample specific reliability for these instruments was strong (alpha =.78 to.95).

A variety of findings emerged from this study including that work and nonwork sources of stress represented essentially unique predictors of mental health, with each accounting for a similar R$\sp2$ change (.11 and.12 respectively). Main effects for social support and locus of control were manifest as hypothesized, but the buffering phenomenon was not detected. Further, only a small amount of additional variance in mental health could be attributed to either social support or locus of control. Conversely, years experience as a head nurse, a control variable, added 9% to the explained variance. The total model accounted for 35.9% of the variance in mental health.

The mean mental health score of the sample was sufficiently high to suggest that psychological distress was evident, although not at a dysfunctional level. There were no statistically significant differences between male and female head nurses, inpatient and outpatient head nurses, larger versus smaller hospitals, and all traditional demographic variables.

From this study it was concluded that, overall, mental health of these head nurses was compromised. It is not known to what extent this influences patient care or interactions with other staff. Although interventions are clearly needed, the complexity of the problem is underscored by the substantial effects of both work and nonwork stress on head nurses' mental health. The exploratory analyses illuminated a variety of issues including the effects of relocation on social support dynamics.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-11, Section: B, page: 3249.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, 1987.

School code: 0034.