OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AMONG A CANCER HOSPITAL NURSES
Author: Kama Azida KAMARULZAMAN, Syazwan Syah ZULKIFLY, Nor Halim HASAN
Abstract:Hospital nurses receive enormous amounts of physical and mental workload which causes them to develop work-related stress. In this research, a cross-sectional study was carried out to identify the level of perceived stress, and also to investigate the relationship between occupational stressor and perceived stress level among one hundred and eighty two (n=182) nurses in a cancer hospital. Data collection was done using a self-administered questionnaire consists Nursing Stress Scale (NSS) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Based on the results obtained, majority of the nurses perceived high level of stress and six variables namely “workload”, “death and dying”, “inadequate preparation”, “lack of staff support”, “conflict with physician” and “conflict with other nurses” have relationship with occupational stress. The relationship between “uncertainty concerning treatment by physician” and “perceived stress” was found to be absent. NSS explained 19.7% of PSS and “inadequate preparation” as well as “conflict with physicians” the most influential factors towards perceived stress among nurses. For future research, this study is suggested to be expanded to a greater sample of nurses in other hospitals to obtain better conclusion and generalisation.
Keywords: NSS, PSS, Occupational Stress, Nurses