الفهرس 
Abstract
Aim of the studyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Occupational stress is a harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of job do not match the capabilities, resources, or need of workers (Hall, 2004). Occupational stress exists in all profession but nursing appears to be particularly stressful (Thomas, 2002). It is important to identify the extent and sources of stress in a healthcare organization to find stress management strategies to help the individual and the working environment. Stress in nurses affects their health and increases absenteeism, attrition rate, injury claims, infection rates, and errors in treating patients (Shirey, 2006). The general working environment at hospital is a constant source of stress among nurses working there. Critical care nurses are working in a complex assessment, high intensity therapies and continuous nursing vigilance . Response to stress can be divided into three categories i.e. mental, physical and emotional. Emotional and mental responses to stress has been linked to outbursts of anger , unnecessary worries and frequent mood changes whereas physical stress is associated with cardiac disorders , GIT ulcer and skin rashes. Stress has also been found to be associated with mood changes which include tension, anxiety, fatigue and depression ( Raja et al., 2007).
The study aimed to:-
Identify occupational stressors and coping strategies of nurses At Assiut University Hospital.
Subjects:-
A convenient sample of participants includes 150 of female nurses (available nurses) from different departments, who accepted to participate in the study; an oral and written consent was taken from them during the period from 1st January 2012 to 30th June 2012. This study has been carried out in Assiut University Hospital including the following departments:
General intensive care unit, medical emergency unit, burn unit, operation theaters of general and special surgery, neurology & psychiatry department, internal medicine department, general and special surgery departments and trumatology unit.
Each participant was assessed through the following six tools:
1-Socio-demographic data sheet (Appendix I).
This sheet developed by the researcher. It includes personal data, such as nurse’s (name, age, marital status, address, qualification, years of experience, place of work (department).
2- Socio economic status data scale (Appendix II).
This scale is an Arabic version designed by Abd-El-Tawab (2004) to assess socioeconomic status of the family and consists of 4 dimensions, which include the following:
- Parent’s level of education it included 8 items.
- Parent’s occupation it included 2 items.
- Total family monthly income it included 6 items.
- Life style of the family it included 3 items.
3-Social readjustment rating scale (Holmess and Rahe 1967)
(Appendix III).
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) Arabic version translated by Yousef, (1990), originally developed by Holmes and Rahe, (1967). This scale measure the one’s susceptibility to illness and mental health problems. Each event should be considered if it has taken place in the last 12 months.
4 - Assessment the level of stress scale (Yousef, 1991), (Appendix IV).
Arabic version developed and used by Yousef, (1991) and Hieggaan, (1998) in many studies. It consisted of 32 items, each item identifies its own level of stress from time to time at work. Responses to stress will be measured on four points by using Likert scale which ranged from one (never) to four (always).
5- Coping strategies rating scale: By Jalowiec and Powers (1981)
(Appendix V). The Arabic version of this tool was established by Al-Mahdy (2000). This scale was used to measure coping strategies which used by nurses at different departments. This scale was composed of problem-focused coping strategies which aimed at solving problems or handling stressful situations, and emotional focused - coping strategies which aimed to measure strategies to manage emotions accompanying stressful situations.
6- The symptom checklist (SCL-90-Revised) (Elbehairy, 2004)(Appendix VI) The SCL-90-R was Arabic version developed by Elbehairy, (2004) and is consisted of 90-item self-report symptoms inventory developed by Clinical psychometric research. It is designed primarily to reflect the psychological symptoms pattern of psychiatric and medical conditions. It includes measurement of the following dimensions:-
1. Somatization.
2. Obsessive compulsive.
3. Interpersonal sensitivity.
4. Depression.
5. Anxiety.
6. Hostility.
7. Phobic anxiety.
8. Paranoid ideation.
9. Psychoticism.
The main results yielded by this study were:-
- The studied group consisted of 150 female nurses from Assiut university hospital, aged between 20-55 years. Slightly more than half of them (54.7%) from urban areas, 50.7% of them has years of experience more than 10 years, 80.7% were married, 79.3% graduated from secondary nursing school, and the vast majority of studied group were at middle level of socioeconomic status level.
- More than half of nurses (64%) had moderate level of stress. They were significantly different according to the department where they work P-value =0.035, while they were not significant different at their susceptibility to mental health problems at different hospital department P-value =0.12.
-Nurses utilized emotional focused coping strategies (54.1 ± 9.2) more than problem focused coping strategies (46.8 ± 11.7). There were statistically significance difference between both emotional focused strategies, problem focused strategies and different hospital department (p- value= 0.006 & p-value= 0.000).
-Most of nurses suffered from somatization (38%), followed by paranoia (24%), and depression (20.7%). They were significantly different according to their work department at somatization, depression, psychosis, phobia, anxiety, and sensitivity (p=0.00, p=0.00, p=0.00, p=0.00, p=0.00, p=0.01 respectively).
- Demographic characteristics have no effects on the level of susceptibility to mental health problems and nurses’ level of stress.
-There were significant positive correlations between emotional focused strategies and obsession, sensitivity, depression, hostility, phobia, paranoia, and psychosis r=.230** at p=.005, r=.360** at p=.000, r=.412** at p=.000, r=.234** at p=.004, r=.177* at p=.031, r=.198* at p=.015, r=.326** at p=.000 respectively. While there were non significant negative correlation between emotional focused strategies and somatization r=-.049 at p=.549.
- There is no correlation between nurses’ mean scores at stress scale and their mean score at susceptibility to mental health problems (p=0.176), and no correlation between nurses’ mean scores at total emotional focused strategies and their mean score at susceptibility to mental health problem (p=0.178).
- There were significant negative correlations between nurses mean scores at total problem focused strategies and their mean scores at susceptibility to mental health problem (p=0.001).While, there were significant positive correlations between nurses’ mean scores at total emotional focused strategies and their mean score at stress scale (p=0.002). Moreover, there was no correlation between nurses’ mean scores at total problem focused strategies and their mean scores at stress scale (p=0.349).