Prevalence of Occupational Stress and Related Risk Factors among Nurses Working in ASEER Region

摘要

Background: Over the last century, stress as an interdisciplinary concept has become an area of great interest and has been researched extensively. Although the earliest studies on stress were mostly physiological, psychological models of stress have been developed and established a link between stressors and illness in his model of general adaptation syndrome. Objective: To investigate prevalence and factors associated with occupational stress among nurses working Asser region Hospital. The study included nurses at different age groups working at different departments with assessment of any sources of stress. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted targeting nurses in the main hospitals in the Asser region, Southern Saudi Arabia. A total of the study samples of 217 nurses were required to estimate the expected average stress rate among nurses. A self-administered pre-structured questionnaire used for data collection. Results: Nurses’ ages ranged 21 to 55 years old with mean age of 30.9 ± 11.7 years old. Majority of the nurses were females 175 (80.6%). The highest mean score (more stress) was reported by nurses in relation to the following stress factors; working very hard (4.3 ± 0.9), followed by being under pressure to work long hours (4.2 ± 0.9), the opportunity given to do something is not real and enough (4.2 ± 1.0). The findings showed a significant relationship between nurses’ stress level, their personal and work-related characteristics (P = 0.001). Recommendations: Interventional programs to detect and alleviate sources and effects of occupational stress should be developed including more training regarding coping strategies, nurses’ support, and better work condition.