Correlational study on sleep quality and job stressors in nurses from gerontology department of one grade 3 and first-class hospital in Shanghai

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between sleep quality and job stressors.Methods The research population was comprised of nurses in the department of gerontology from one grade 3 and first-class hospital in Shanghai and the research was conducted with a total of 95 nurses between January and April in 2012.Job Stressor Questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used for data collection in the research.Results The analysis shows that the average PSQI score of 95 subject nurses was (6.92 ± 3.37),48 of them (50.53％) suffered sleep disorders (PSQI ≥ 7).Their sleep quality was poorer than normal adults',their scores of all seven items were higher than normal adults' and the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01).Among all of scores,the score on patient nursing was the highest.Classified by different conditions of subjects,the incidence of sleep disorder of different shift nurses was statistically significant (F =5.11,P ＜ 0.05).The top ten job stressors of the nurses in the department of gerontology ranked by correlation coefficients between the stressors and sleep disorders (PSQI≥7)were:noncorporation of patients (0.303),less understanding and support of nursing management team (0.300),lacking of enough knowledge (0.298),unfriendly work atmosphere (0.285),unclear job descriptions (0.276),less nurses on duty (0.270),impolite patients (0.268),frequent shift work (0.266),lower income and less welfare (0.266),over demanding patients(0.261),much more non professional work(0.254).Conclusions The poor sleep quality of nurses in the department of gerontology is closely correlated with work characteristics.Appropriate measures should be taken to reduce job stress and improve the sleep quality of nurses in the department of gerontology. Key words: Nurses; Department of gerontology; Sleep quality; Job stressors