Source of job stress for nurses in public hospitals

OBJECTIVE: This study aims at assessing the different sources of job stress for nurses in a number of public hospitals in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In addition, it intends to find out the most and least perceived sources of stress, and the effect of demographic factors on nurses perception of these sources.

METHODS: Four-hundred and twenty-four nurses working in a number of public hospitals in Riyadh city were the sample size. A questionnaire was used as a method of data collection. It was distributed through the first half of year 2002. Validity and reliability were examined and the score of Cronbachs alpha was found at .92. Furthermore, a number of statistical techniques such as mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis were used to examine the research questions.

RESULTS: Six possible sources of job stress for nurses in public hospitals were found. These include organizational structure and climate, job itself, managerial role, interpersonal relationships, career and achievement and homework interface. The major sources of stress were the first 3 factors, but they have mixed views on the last 3. Homework interface was not seen as a source of stress for nurses, which may refer to the fact that most of them are expatriate and may have little familial obligations. On the other hand, it was found that the effects of demographic factors on nurses perception of these sources are little. The exception was between age and marital status regarding homework interface factor. It was found that old and unmarried nurses did not see this factor as a stressor on the contrary to young and married ones.

CONCLUSION: There are many sources of job stress for nurses in public hospitals. The most stressors found were organizational structure and climate, the nursing job itself, and the managerial roles. Public hospitals managers must deal with these and other stressors and manage them more constructively in a way that positive consequences will be maintained, and negative ones will be eliminated. Besides, there are many strategies for coping with job stress that managers should adopt. Finally, it must be noted that these results have to be taken with caution. More research in this area is needed before generalizing the study findings.