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Stress dimensions, patterns of coping, and psychopathological risk among nurses: a person-centred approach

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Nurses are increasingly demanded to achieve gold-standards of care with fewer resources. Dealing effectively with stress experienced in their daily-work-life is thus crucial. This study is based on the Demands-Resources-and-Individual-Effects (DRIVE) Nurses Model and applied the person-centred approach with a twofold objective: 1. to identify patterns of coping strategies (Problem-Focused; Seek-Advice; Self-Blame; Wishful-Thinking; Escape/Avoidance) adopted by nurses to deal with perceived stress; 2. to explore potential differences in perceived Demands (Effort), Resources (Rewards, Job-Control, Social-Support), and Psychopathological Symptoms (Anxiety, Phobic-Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, Somatization, Depression, Interpersonal-Sensitivity, Hostility, Psychoticism, Paranoid-Ideation) according to the emerged patterns. METHOD: This cross-sectional study was reported by using the STROBE Checklist. Overall, 265 nursing professionals completed self-report measures. Non-hierarchical k-means-cluster-analysis was employed to derive patterns of coping. MANOVAs were used to test differences in Demands, Resources, and Psychopathological Symptoms according to the emerged patterns. RESULTS: Three stable and meaningful patterns of coping were identified and labelled as Active/Solution-Oriented, Dysregulated/Emotion-focused, and Passive/Disengaged. Nurses belonging to Dysregulated/Emotion-focused group emerged to be at higher risk (higher effort/psychopathological suffering; lower resources) - followed by Passive/Disengaged group - in comparison with nurses belonging to Active/Solution-Oriented group. CONCLUSION: Fostering nurses' awareness of their latent coping patterns and supporting active approaches/emotional regulation strategies for stress management should represent a key goal when defining interventions promoting nurses' health within/beyond the healthcare settings.

Source: BMC Nursing

DOI: 10.1186/s12912-024-02250-y

Authors: Federica Vallone, Maria Francesca Cattaneo Della Volta, Maria Clelia Zurlo

Institution: University of Naples Federico II

Language: English

Topic: Stress and Burnout Research

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,890