Work-related stress according to the demand-control model and minor psychic disorders in nursing workers

This was a cross-sectional study that aimed to assess the association between work-related stress according to the Demand-Control Model, and the occurrence of Minor Psychic Disorder (MPD) in nursing workers. The participants were 335 professionals, out of which 245 were nursing technicians, aged predominantly between 20 and 40 years. Data were collected using the Job Stress Scale and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20. The analysis was performed using descriptive and analytical statistics. The prevalence of suspected MPD was 20.6%. Workers classified in the quadrants active job and high strain of the Demand-Control Model presented higher potential for developing MPD compared with those classified in the quadrant low strain. In conclusion, stress affects the mental health of workers and the aspects related to high psychological demands and high control still require further insight in order to understand their influence on the disease processes of nursing workers.

Influence of stress factors and socio-demographic characteristics on the sleep quality of nursing students

Objective:To analyze the influence of stress factors and socio-demographic characteristics on the sleep quality of nursing students. Method: An analytical cross-sectional and quantitative study, conducted with 151 nursing students in São Paulo between March and April of 2012. A form for socio-demographic characteristics, the Instrument to Evaluate Stress in Nursing Students and the Pittsburgh Sleep Index were applied. Results: High levels of stress was predominant for Time Management (27.8%) and Professional Training (30.5%) and low sleep quality (78.8%). The Professional Communication, Professional Training and Theoretical Activity are positively correlated to sleep quality. Work activity, academic year and time for daily studies contributed to a low quality of sleep. Conclusion: Few stress factors from the academic environment and some socio-demographic characteristics contributed to the reduction of sleep quality in students.


OHS in the nursing workplace: accountability and the management of stress

There has been growing interest in occupational stress in the nursing context, both in New Zealand and internationally. This article takes a critical approach to the literature on nursing stress by examining the implications of a body of research largely informed by a theoretical approach which highlights the individual. In spite of evidence that the main sources of stress for nurses are related to workplace conditions, the focus is on the individual nurse and his/her personal response to stress. This approach encourages the development of interventions where the objectives are the individual management of stress, and thereby consolidates nurses' perceptions of powerlessness. Alternatives to these palliative measures, such as highlighting the legal obligations for employers to provide a safe workplace or collective industrial action for change, are glaringly absent in the literature. The importance of such an approach is supported by recent findings from the United States on the advantages of hospitals which promote nurses' autonomy and control.

Engagement and labour stress in nursing

Engagement is a useful concept in the profession of nursing as it focuses on the positive dimension of human behaviour and visualizes the work context as a positive situation. Evaluate the stress and engagement levels on Portuguese and Spanish nurses and analyse the factors related to the stress and engagement levels in the two sample groups. Comparative exploratory study in a quantitative paradigm. Sample of 867 nurses (504 Portuguese, 363 Spanish), female 83.6% (78.6% Portugal, 90.6% Spain) and average age of 37. Portuguese (77.2%) and Spanish nurses (39.4%), work on average 40 hours per week. 60.6% and 57.7% of the Spanish and Portuguese respectively exercise their profession for 10 years. Sociodemographic questionnaire, the Pamela Gray-Toft’s Nursing Stress Scale (1981) and Schaufeli & Bakker’s Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (2003) were used. In what concerns Engagement there are statistically signiicant differences in the three dimensions, the p-value of the t-Student test were under 5%, highlighting the Spanish nurses for being more vigorous, dedicated and absorbed by their work: vigour, dedication and absorption. The sample of Portuguese nurses experience higher stress levels although the difference with Spanish nurses isn’t statistically signiicant. There are statistically signiicant differences between Portugal and Spain in “Lack of help from colleagues” and also in the psychological domain in general. The Spanish nurses feel more vigorous, dedicated and absorbed by their work. The Portuguese nurses perceive more psychological stress and mention having less help from colleagues.

Stress and coping in older people with Alzheimer`s disease

To investigate stress intensity and coping style in older people with mild Alzheimer`s disease. The potential risk assessment of a stress event and the devising of coping strategies are dependent on cognitive function. Although older individuals with Alzheimer`s disease present significant cognitive impairment, little is known about how these individuals experience stress events and select coping strategies in stress situations. Survey. A convenient sample of 30 cognitively healthy older people and 30 individuals with mild Alzheimer`s disease were given an assessment battery of stress indicators (Symptom Stress List, Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), coping style (Jalowiec Coping Scale) and cognitive performance (mini-mental state exam) were applied in both groups. Statistical analysis of the data employed the Mann-Whitney test to compare medians of stress indicators and coping style, Fischer`s exact test to compare proportions when expected frequencies were lower than five, and Spearman`s correlation coefficient to verify correlation between coping style and cognitive performance. Both groups suffered from the same stress intensity (p = 0.254). Regarding coping styles, although differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.124), emotion-oriented coping was predominant in the patients with Alzheimer`s disease. However, those individuals displaying better cognitive performance in the Alzheimer`s disease group had selected coping strategies focused on problem solving (p = 0.0074). Despite a tendency for older people with Alzheimer`s disease to select escape strategies and emotional control, rather than attempting to resolve or lesser the consequences arising from a problem, coping ultimately depends on cognitive performance of the individual. The findings of this study provide information and data to assist planning of appropriate support care for individuals with Alzheimer`s disease who experience stress situations, based on their cognitive performance.

Moral distress: challenges for an autonomous nursing professional practice

Constantly experiencing limiting situations that hinder a professional practice coherent with its principles - of autonomy and advocacy of users' interests -, and often conditioned to experience moral distress, the nursing profession plays a prominent role in the current health model because it has the characteristic of managing the care rendered to users in a perspective of social inclusion, both in the basic health network and in hospitals. Aiming at carrying out a reflection on the nursing practice and the difficulties present in its work routine, and considering its characteristics as a profession, this article sought to make a reflection between the practice of nursing and the numerous moral challenges imposed by the routine, resulting, in many cases, in a value crisis that can reverberate directly on the quality of the service rendered, and in abandonment of the ideals of advocacy for users.

Depression and suicide risk among nursing professionals: an integrative review

Abstract OBJECTIVE Discussing the factors associated with major depression and suicide risk among nursing professionals. METHOD An integrative review in PubMed/MEDLINE, LILACS, SciELO and BDENF databases, between 2003 and 2015. RESULTS 20 published articles were selected, mostly from between 2012 and 2014, with significant production in Brazil. Nursing professionals are vulnerable to depression when young, married, performing night work and having several jobs, and when they have a high level of education, low family income, work overload, high stress, insufficient autonomy and a sense of professional insecurity and conflict in the family and workrelationship. Suicide risk was correlated with the presence of symptoms of depression, high levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment; characteristics of Burnout Syndrome. CONCLUSION Suicide risk among nursing professionals is associated with symptoms of depression and correlated with Burnout Syndrome, which can affect work performance.

Stress e estratégias de coping em Enfermeiros : estudo comparativo entre Portugal e Espanha

O presente estudo, tem como objetivo efetuar uma comparação entre os enfermeiros portugueses e espanhóis de modo a identificar os principais fatores que desencadeiam o stress bem como as estratégias de coping utilizadas. A amostra é constituída por 50 enfermeiros espanhóis e 50 enfermeiros portugueses. Dos resultados obtidos, verificam-se que em Portugal as situações indutoras de stress variam de acordo com o sexo, a idade, os anos de serviço, enquanto que em Espanha, apenas se verifica a influência do ambiente relacional nas situações que mais causam stress. Relativamente às estratégias de coping, em Portugal, o sexo, a idade, e o vínculo com a instituição influenciam na determinação das estratégias de coping, enquanto que na amostra espanhola, apenas se verifica a influência do sexo na determinação das mesmas.

STRESS E REAJUSTAMENTO SOCIAL EM AUXILIARES DE ENFERMAGEM

O presente estudo teve por objetivos, levantar o perfil sócio-demográfico e cultural, de auxiliares de enfermagem, avaliar o grau e presença de sintomas de stress, avaliar e descrever reajustamento social tecendo relação entre variáveis relacionadas ao labor e o stress. Participaram desse estudo 126 auxiliares de enfermagem que cursavam técnico em enfermagem. Utilizou-se os instrumentos: a) questionário Sócio-demográfico e cultural; b) Escala de Reajustamento Social de Holmes-Rahe e c) Inventário de Sintomas de Stress de Lipp (ISSL). Os dados foram coletados em salas de aula, de três escolas técnicas da grande São Paulo e esses dados foram tratados estatisticamente pelos testes X² e r Person para as relações entre variáveis, com auxílio do programa SPSS versão 17. Os resultados indicaram uma predominância de pessoas do gênero feminino, casados, com idade mínima de 19 anos e máxima de 56 anos e com práticas religiosas católicas e evangélicas. Desses profissionais (79%) trabalhavam em um só emprego, com experiência na profissão de cinco anos e o setor com maior quantidade de profissionais foi o home care . A maioria dos profissionais exercia suas atividades no horário matutino, e estudava no horário noturno. O estudo indicou que 57,9% apresentaram grau de stress significativo. Dentro deste grau de stress significativo, 41,3% dos profissionais estavam na fase de resistência e 37,3% dos auxiliares com grau de stress significativo, apresentavam predominância de stress de natureza psicológica. Quanto ao reajustamento social, os auxiliares de enfermagem a maioria, que correspondia a 48,4% estava dentro da média, com chances razoáveis de adoecer, ou seja, apresentavam capacidade regular para adaptação aos eventos novos e desconhecidos que ocorrem durante a vida. Os resultados indicaram que os profissionais que apresentaram stress significativo obtiveram pontuação maior (média) na escala de reajustamento social, em comparação aos profissionais que não apresentaram stress, indicando que esses sujeitos tinham maior probabilidade de estarem adoecidos ou virem a adoecer.

Stress, burnout and coping strategies in the emergency and intensive care hospital departments

Doctors and nurses working at the accident and emergency (A&E), and intensive care departments are at risk of burnout. They often spend substantial time in intense interactions with other people, centered on patients? health problems (physical, psychological and social) that may lead to feelings of anger, anxiety and frustration, and eventually to burnout. Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1981) The purpose of this chapter is to assess work stressors, burnout and stress-coping mechanisms among doctors and nurses at the A&E and intensive care departments. A quantitative design using the survey approach was used to collect data from a sample of 200 participants with a response rate of 71% (n=154) Work stressors were associated with burnout in both doctors and nurses. Workload was the most salient work stressor in the sample. Nurses experienced more stress (M=1.5, SD=0.4) than doctors (M=1.2, SD=0.4) in all the work stressor variables examined. The A&E department was reported as more stressful than the intensive care department. Avoidance-oriented and task-oriented coping were the most and the least frequently reported coping strategies respectively. Additionally, only emotion-oriented coping strategy was significantly different between doctors and nurses, and this strategy was also significantly positively correlated with all the variables in the adapted nursing stress scale, and the three burnout variables. Death and dying was most strongly correlated with emotion-oriented coping. This chapter provides an assessment of stress, burnout and coping experienced by both doctors and nurses within the A&E and intensive care departments. Methods that may mitigate stress in these environments may be adequate staffing, supportive management, stress management programs, as well as improvement in communication strategies between doctors and nurses.

Perceived occupational stress in nurses working in Ireland

Background: This study examines perceived stress and its potential causal factors in nurses. Stress has been seen as a routine and accepted part of the healthcare worker’s role. The lack of research on stress in nurses in Ireland motivated this study. Aims: The aims of this study are to examine the level of stress experienced by nurses working in an Irish teaching hospital, and investigate differences in perceived stress levels by ward area and associations with work characteristics. Method: A cross-sectional study design was employed, with a two-stage cluster sampling process. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data and nurses were investigated across ten different wards using the Nursing Stress Scale and the Demand Control Support Scales. Results: The response rate was 62%. Using outpatients as a reference ward, perceived stress levels were found to be significantly higher in the medical ward, accident and emergency, intensive care unit and paediatric wards (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the wards with regard to job strain, however, differences did occur with levels of support; the day unit and paediatric ward reporting the lowest level of supervisor support (p<0.01). A significant association was seen between the wards and perceived stress even after adjustment (p<0.05). Conclusion: The findings suggest that perceived stress does vary within different work areas in the same hospital. Work factors, such as demand and support are important with regard to perceived stress. Job control was not found to play an important role.

Técnica de respiración Jacobson para reducir el estrés de enfermeras de unidades de cuidados intensivos

Problema del estudio: El sector de enfermería perteneciente a las Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos presentan estrés, y se ofrece la Técnica de respiración Jacobson como herramienta para disminuir los niveles y los problemas derivados del estrés. Objetivo general: Evaluar la eficacia de la técnica de respiración Jacobson sobre el estrés en los profesionales de enfermería de UCI. Objetivos específicos: Diseñar un taller de respiración de la técnica Jacobson, para enfermería de UCI; comparar los niveles de estrés de los enfermeros de UCI antes y después de la intervención mediante los cuestionarios STAI, NSS y NWI; y evaluar los principales factores estresantes de los enfermeros/as en su trabajo, comparando los 2 grupos de la intervención (los que realizan el programa de la Técnica de relajación Jacobson y los que no participan). Metodología: El ámbito de estudio será una planta del servicio de UCI de un Hospital de Agudos. Se trata de un ensayo clínico aleatorio y experimental, que constará de 2 grupos control; uno realizará la intervención (Grupo 1) y el otro no (Grupo 2). Los sujetos del estudio son las enfermeras/os de una planta de UCI de un Hospital de Agudos, incluidas enfermeras administrativas y gerentes. Los instrumentos que se utilizarán son: la recogida de datos personales de cada participante, Test STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), Escala de Estrés de Enfermería NSS (Nursing Stress Scale) y Escala del entorno de práctica enfermera del NWI (Nursing Work Index). Limitaciones del estudio: Pérdidas de seguimiento y la no participación de las enfermeras/os en el estudio.

No caleidoscópio o estresse da equipe de enfermagem da UTI de um Hospital Universitário em Natal-RN

This study aimed to analyze stress on nursing staff of intensive care at the Teaching Hospital Onofre Lopes. The study sample consisted of thirty-eight (38) nursing professionals, including technicians and nurses working in the ICU of the hospital Data were collected between September to November 2011 in two stages.The first was the application of the Lipp Stress Symptoms Inventory (LSSI), which allowed us to measure the stress phase in which each team member was. After that, data were tabulated in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and analyzed according to the 2010 inventory guidelines proposed by the author. After this analysis it was possible to complete the second phase of the research, which consisted of a semi-structured interview designed for those workers who were in the second phase of stress, resistance. Data analysis was based on Bardin 2004 content analysis, enabling the creation of categories based on grouping the ideas present in the interviewees' statements. It was found that the study population was mostly female (78.9%) aged from 30 to 39 years (50%), married (52.3%) and with dual-employment (65.7%). The most predominant phase, according to the Lipp inventory, was the stress resistance, present in 44.7% of the team and having as most predominant physical symptoms the constant feeling of physical exhaustion, verified in 16.8% of the participants, and psychological, the excessive irritability and emotional sensitivity in 26.3%. Regarding the qualitative data it was possible to establish three categories and four subcategories, with the following categories: the stressors of the workplace, overwork and the interpersonal relationships of the nursing staff in the ICU. And as subcategories: Routine care in the ICU; Pressures and Individual Charges; double journey: professional reflections on daily life, the night shift nursing staff and the body suffers, the manifestations of stress; deficient communication between team members. Thus, this study allowed the visualization of the stress phenomenon on nursing staff of the Teaching Hospital Onofre Lopes as a kaleidoscope of thoughts, feelings and experiences perceived by these professionals in different areas of their lives. It was also verified that the strengthening of the stress theme among nursing professionals need to be exploited and stimulated in several nursing areas of discussion so these workers are encouraged to take better care of themselves so they can take care of others health

Perspectivas atuais sobre a sobrecarga do cuidador em saúde mental

Foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre sobrecarga de cuidadores em saúde mental. Os trabalhos foram selecionados na Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde (BVS), utilizando-se as palavras-chaves: sobrecarga do cuidador (caregiver burden). Os principais critérios para este estudo foram: artigos completos, publicados entre 2000 e 2010, nos idiomas português, inglês ou espanhol; indexados nas bases da BVS, que investigam a sobrecarga do cuidador em saúde mental, tendo cuidadores como assunto principal. Para análise foi considerado: o título, ano de publicação, objetivos, abordagem metodológica, instrumentos e principais resultados. A análise de 114 artigos na íntegra apontou como objetivos predominantes a sobrecarga entre os cuidadores informais e a validação de escalas psicométricas, destacando-se a Escala de Zarit. Alguns estudos apresentaram associação entre altos níveis de sobrecarga, ocorrência de sentimentos de culpa e sintomas depressivos. Em contrapartida indicaram intervenções psico-educacionais como positivas. Trata-se de uma temática com crescente interesse cientifico e necessidade de aprofundamento relacionado ao cuidador formal.

The burnout syndrome among nurses in an urban acute care hospital

Three hundred fifty-four registered nurses from an urban acute care hospital were examined through self-report questionnaires. Nurses from trauma care, critical care and non-critical care nursing specialties participated in the study. The study focuses were (1) whether sociodemographic characteristics were significantly related to burnout; (2) what was the prevalence estimate of burnout among the population; (3) whether burnout levels differed depending upon nursing specialties and; (4) whether burnout as related to nursing stress, work environment, and work relations was mediated by sociodemographic characteristics.^ Race, age, marital status, education, seniority, rank, nursing education, and birthplace were significantly related to one or more aspects of burnout in the total population. With emotional exhaustion alone the prevalence of burnout was 62%. Using emotional exhaustion and depersonalization combined with reduced sense of personal accomplishment as a measure of burnout, thirty-four percent of the nurses were either in the pre-burnout phase or burned out. The relative importance of sociodemographic characteristics indicated that experience and race were highly significant risk factors.^ Burnout levels differed significantly depending upon nursing specialty. Specifically, levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization differed significantly between trauma care and critical care, and trauma care and non-critical care. Personal accomplishment did not differ depending upon nursing specialty. Critical care nurses did not differ significantly from non-critical care nurses on aspect of burnout.^ Race, marital status, education, seniority and rank were significant mediators of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The study offers possible explanations for the mediating effect of sociodemographic characteristics on nursing stress, work environment, work relations, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. ^