Purpose. The aims of the research are to explore the nurses’ stress symptoms and the correlates of nurses’ job stress symptoms.
Methods. This is a prospective and repeated- measurement-design study. The structured questionnaires were used to investigate the number of the stress symptoms, the demographic characteristics (ages, religion, educational levels, and working years for nursing job) , family factors, and job environments among hospital nurses. Nurses who worked in a regional teaching hospital and met the criteria of this study were recruited.
Findings. The number of stress symptoms among nurses were correlated with present
work locations, the degree of stress resulting from nursing jobs, total working hours per day, and previous experiences. The number of stress symptoms in nurses who perceived the degree of stress resulting from nursing work as “low” and “moderate”was less than those who perceived the degree of stress as “high”. The number of stress symptoms increased, while the nurses’ total working hours per day were added up and the work experiences decreased.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance. Future research may focus on the stressors related to stress symptoms among nurses. Hopefully, the results of this study could provide a reference for health policy makers to help hospital nurses. We recommended to simplify the procedures and enpower nurse’s ability in order to shorten the working hours. Stress adaptation’s programs are suggested to assist nurses to cope with stress.
