An Assessment of Perceived Stress Levels and Coping Strategies for the Same among Married Women Clerical Employees in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Married working women can be victims of stress both at home and at the work place. The ability of these women to cope and adapt to stressors has an important influence on their physical and psychological well being. This is a questionnaire based assessment of the perceived stress levels and coping strategies for the same among married female clerical employees in a tertiary care teaching hospital. The assessment of perceived stress among 162 married female clerical staffs reflects that the majority(72.8%) were moderately stressed. About 2.5% were in severe stress, 21.6% had mild stress and 3.1% had no stress. A majority of the participants of the study are suffering from moderate stress. Most of them(72.4%) were under graduates.70.3% of the participants are junior staff. A majority(72.4%) of the subjects suffering from moderate stress belonged to the income group of Rs10, 001-15, 000.72.3% of the staff worked for 40 hours per week.70.5% of the staff belonged to a nuclear family. It was observed that 72.5% were residing at home. Furthermore, 70.4% have not attended any stress management program and 70.6% of subjects who are suffering from moderate stress have work experience of 1–2 years. There is no association between stress and coping strategies among married female clerical staff (p=0.829). Since p>0.05 level of significance, null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is accepted. From this result we can infer that there is no association between stress and coping strategies. This study can be used as a precursor to further assess the magnitude of stress among staff belonging to different hierarchical levels.