A Study of Work Stress and Health-Promoting Lifestyles among Health Care Workers at Base Hospital Kalmunai (North) in Sri Lanka

Background Healthcare workers including Doctors, nurses, medical technicians and Minor staff experience high levels of occupational stress as a result of heavy workloads, extended working hours and time-related pressure. The aims of this study were to investigate factors associated with work stress among hospital staff members and to evaluate their health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study from May 1, 2015 to July 30, 2015 and recruited 400 professional staff from Base Hospital kalmunai (North) in Sri Lanka using purposive sampling. Demographic data and self-reported symptoms related to work-related stress were collected. Each subject completed the Chinese versions of the Job Content Questionnaire (C-JCQ) and The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLSP). Linear and binary regression analyses were applied to identify associations between these two measurements and subjects characteristics, and associations between the two measurements and stress symptoms. Results Higher health care workers workloads are associated with burnout and job dissatisfaction, precursors to voluntary turnover that contribute to the understaffing of staff in hospitals and poorer patient outcomes. Self-reported symptoms of work-related stress included 64.4 % of subjects reporting nervousness, 33.7 % nightmares, 44.1 % irritability, 40.8 % headaches, 35.0 % insomnia, and 41.4 % gastrointestinal upset. . All items on the HPLSP correlated negatively with stress-related symptoms except for irritability, indicating an association between subjects symptoms and a poor quality of health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. Conclusions The results also suggested that better performance on or a higher frequency of health-promoting life-style behaviors might reduce the chances of hospital staff developing stress-related symptoms. We revealed that high demands, little decision-making authority, and low levels of social support were associated with the development of stress-related symptoms. . Our report may contribute to the development of educational programs designed to encourage members of high stress groups among the hospital staff to increase their health-promoting behaviors. It needs to be addressed by health care managers to implement effective coping strategies