Stress and coping strategies amongst registered nurses working in a South African tertiary hospital
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: A survey of the literature on nurses reveals that although a great deal of research has been carried out relating to stress and coping internationally, little has been written about nurses in South Africa.The aim of this is to identify the possible causes and frequency of stress experienced by registered nurses working in a hospital, to identify the coping strategies used, to assess the relationship between stress and coping mechanisms of registered nurses, to compare stress and adopted coping strategies among registered nurses in the different units/wards, to identify the support systems that minimize stress and to address stress amongst nurses in South Africa.The study was conducted at Groote Schuur Hospital.A descriptive correlational study was used to identify sources of stress experienced by registered nurses, describing the relationship between stress and coping.With the use of a purposive sampling, 150 standardized self report questionnaires including Nursing Stress Scale and Ways of Coping Checklist was distributed to registered nurses in the following units/wards, medical, surgical, theatre, trauma and emergency, intensive care unit and maternity.A pilot study was conducted to five registered nurses in a psychiatric unit to determine the clarity of questions, effectiveness of instructions, completeness of response sets, time required to complete the questionnaire and success of data collection.Pilot subjects were asked to comment on the applicability and appropriateness of the questionnaire to the South African nursing context.Statistical analysis of the quantitative data was conducted using Statistical Package for the demographic profile of the participants, the frequency of the adopted coping strategies and the mean scores (and standard deviation) of sources of stress.Analytical statistics was used to compare relationship among variables.These included independent Ttest, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson Correlations.The findings of the study revealed that Registered nurses are stressed.The greatest perceived source of stress appears to be workload followed by emotional issues related to death and dying.Registered nurses seem to be resorting more to positive reappraisal, planful problem solving and seeking social support strategies.
Author: Veronica Vatiswa Makie
Language: English
Topic: Stress and Burnout Research
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2274800395