Stress and Coping Styles: The Experience of Nursing Staff Working At Two Public Hospitals in Klang Valley, Malaysia
Stress and coping styles in nurses
Abstract
Although stress among nursing staff is common, adopting effective coping styles helps in minimizing the problem. The objectives of this study were to compare stress level among nursing staff working in the above disciplines, to identify common coping style used and to determine the relationship between stress and coping styles. This cross-sectional study involved 106 nursing staff who were universally sampled from psychiatric wards and emergency departments in two public hospitals in the Klang Valley. Self-rated questionnaires i.e. Stress Arousal Checklist (SACL) and Coping inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) were used to assess stress levels and coping styles respectively. There was insignificant difference in terms of stress level between the two nursing staffs. Stress dimension of SACL between the psychiatry (6.53 + 3.18, p=0.372) and emergency (6.02 + 2.67, p=0.372) nursing staffs were insignificant. Arousal dimension of SACL was also insignificant between psychiatry (8.60 + 1.70, p=0.372) and emergency (9.19 + 1.61, p=0.07) nursing staff. Task coping was the most commonly used coping styles among the psychiatry (55.36 + 9.85) and emergency (57.73 + 9.87) nursing staff in this study. Stress dimension of SACL showed weak significant relationship with task coping (r=-0.313, p=0.001) and emotion coping (r=0.292, p=0.001). Arousal dimension of SACL was also found to have weak significant relationship with task coping (r=0.271, p=0.003) and emotion coping (r=-0.251, p=0.005). While nursing was found to be a stressful profession, a significant relationship between stress and coping styles allows intervention to enable better adaptation to the stressful working environment.
Keywords :
coping skills,
nursing staff,
stress,
Abstrak
Walaupun stres dikalangankakitangan kejururawatan adalah biasa, mempunyai kaedah menangani masalah yang efektif dapat membantu meminimakan tahap stres. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk membandingkan tahap stres di kalangan kakitangan kejururawatan, mengenal-pasti kaedah menangani masalah (coping style) dan menentukan hubungan di antara tahap stres dan kaedah menangani masalah . Kajian rentas ini melibatkan 106 kakitangan kejururawatan yang telah disampel secara universal dari wad psikiatri dan jabatan kecemasan di dua buah hospital awam di Lembah Klang. Stress Arousal Checklist (SACL) dan Coping inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) digunakan untuk menguji tahap stres dan kaedah menangani masalah. Tiada perbezaan signifikan didapati pada tahap stres diantara kedua-dua kumpulan. Dimensi stres pada SACL antara kakitangan psikiatri (6.53 + 3.18, p=0.372) dan kecemasan (6.02 + 2.67, p=0.372) tidak menunjukkan perbezaan signifikan. Dimensi arousal pada SACL antara kakitangan psikiatri (8.60 + 1.70, p=0.372) dan kecemasan (9.19 + 1.61, p=0.07) juga tidak menunjukkan perbezaan signifikan. Task coping adalah kaedah menangani masalah yang paling utama digunakan di kalangan kakitangan psikiatri (55.36 + 9.85) dan kecemasan (57.73 + 9.87). Dimensi stres pada SACL menunjukkan hubungan yang signifikan tetapi lemah dengan ‘task coping’ (r=-0.313,p=0.001) dan ‘emotion coping’ (r=0.292,p=0.001).Dimensi ‘arousal’ pada SACL juga menunjukkan hubungan yang signifikan tetapi lemah dengan ‘task coping’ (r=0.271, p=0.003) dan ‘emotion coping’ (r=-0.251, p=0.005). Memandangkan profesion kejururawatan mempunyai tahap stres yang tinggi, hubungan yang signifikan di antara stres dan kaedah menangani masalah membolehkan intervensi dijalankan untuk adaptasi yang lebih baik kepada persekitaran kerja dengan tahap stres yang tinggi.
Kata Kunci :
kakitangan kejururawatan,
menangani masalah,
stress,
Correspondance Address
Dr. Wan Salwina Wan Ismail, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603-91456158. Fax: 603-91737841. Email: wan@ppukm.ukm.my