A Study of Occupational Stress and Its Correlates Among Nurses

Nurses play a crucial role in healthcare and are champions for health promotion in the society. They play an essential role in prevention as well as cure of health problems. Numerous studies have shown that nurses face a variety of pressures while working that go beyond their interactions with patients. Daily exposure to such pressures has the potential to harm their mental health. The aim of the present study was to explore Occupational Stress and its correlates viz. Burnout, Work Fatigue, Compassion Fatigue, Quality of Work Life and Neuroticism among nurses. In addition, the relationship between the aforesaid variables was also explored. The study was conducted on a sample of 160 nurses (80 males and 80 females) practicing public and private sector hospitals at Chandigarh, Mohali (Punjab, India) and Panchkula (Haryana, India). Their age range was 35 to 45 years. t-ratios were calculated to study differences among scores obtained by male and female nurses. Results revealed that in comparison to male nurses female nurses scored higher on Occupational Stress, Burnout, Work Fatigue and Neuroticism. Nurses practicing in public sector hospitals scored higher on all variables. Occupational stress was also found to be significantly and positively associated with all variables except Quality of Work Life.