Stress Assessment and Coping Strategies for Nurses in Selected Private Hospitals of Malappuram District, Kerala

Stress isanimportant psychological concept that affecthealth, well-being and job performance in negative dimensions and ispandemic in today’s society. Health care and nursing have not been spared. Increasing patient acuity and decreased length of stay in both acute and home care settings, a composite of new technology, managed care, increased supervisory responsibilities, risk and fear of litigation, and the current nursing shortage etc. putincreased stress on today’s nurses. Other crucialfactorsthat may contribute workplace stress includes team conflict, unclear role expectations, heavy workload, and lack of autonomy. Everyday nurses experiences stress either accute or chronic in nature.It may be psychological, physiological, emotional, social,occupational and personal which may have negative effects on their health thus personal and work behaviours.The study investigated the various aspects of stress and factors contributing stress among nurses working in selected private hospitals in Malappuram district, Kerala.It also aimed at addressing the issue of how stress at work can be effectively managed, reduced or prevented thus to enhance the health of nurses, as well as theirpersonal and professional work behaviours. The participants were selected using purposive sampling from 4 hospitals in Malappuram District and belonged to the age group of 20-35 years of age. The sample consisted of 50 nurses belonged to the age group of 20-35 years of age. The tool used for the study was a questionnaire tagged “Stress assessment questionnaire”. It consisted of two sections -a preliminary section to collect the back ground details of nurses and scales to measure various aspects of stress. The stress assessment scalesincluded were1. a perceivedstress scale developed by Cohen, Kamarck, andMermelstein (1983), physical and psychological symptoms checklist and stress copingskills and personal resources preference rating scale. Out of 50 samples studied, 92 percentage were single and belonged to the nuclear family. Most (92%) of them had 8-10 hours of work on regular days and 72 percentage had to work 11-12 hours on peak days. The study established the fact that job stress had significant effect on physical and psychological well-being of nurses. It also established that there was significant individual difference in the factors that contributing stress in home and work environment. Based on these findings a coping strategy - computer based training (CBT) module was developed. Stress coping training intervention using the developed CBT was also conducted for nurses.The present study emphasized the need ofintervention strategies that can be used to decrease the target stress and/or help to cope with stressors. Study also recommended proper implementation of stress coping strategiesmeant for nurses on a regular basis and frequent need-based follow- up programmes which are essential to enhance a stress free and quality life to the nursing community.