Do Challenge Stress and Hindrance Stress Affect Quality of Health Care? Empirical Evidence from China

Tengyang Ma,Yilun Guo,Yifei Wang,Jianwei Deng,Tianan Yang

doi:10.3390/ijerph15081628

Abstract

Severe job stress has adverse effects on the health of Chinese healthcare workers. We investigated associations between job stress, health, and quality of health care among Chinese healthcare workers. To analyze associations between stress, health, and quality of health care among healthcare workers in 74 Chinese hospitals, we surveyed 2426 healthcare workers of primary, secondary, and tertiary hospitals in Western, Central, and Eastern China in 2017. Structural equation modelling was used to examine relationships between job stress, health, and quality of health care. The mediating effect of health on the association between job stress and quality of health care was examined with the Sobel test. In the final model, health had a moderate direct positive effect on the quality of health care (β = 0.24; p < 0.001). Challenge stress had a direct inverse effect on health (β = −0.05; p < 0.05) and a significant direct positive effect on the quality of health care (β = 0.26; p < 0.001). Hindrance stress had a significant inverse effect on health (β = −0.37; p < 0.001) and a moderate inverse effect on the quality of health care (β = −0.19; p < 0.001). The correlation between challenge stress and hindrance stress was significant and positive (β = 0.59; p < 0.001). A partial mediation effect was in the final model. The health status of healthcare workers is an important concern at all levels of Chinese hospitals. To improve quality of healthcare, appropriate challenge stress is recommended among young staff, and interventions targeting hindrance stress should be developed and implemented in all hospital departments.

Highlights

IntroductionPopular assessment tools include the ISO9002 standard (comprising of hospital equipment, human resources, and overall management assessment)and the SERVQUAL scale of patient satisfaction [3]
Quality of health care is assessed mainly in relation to inputs, processes, and outputs [1,2].Popular assessment tools include the ISO9002 standardand the SERVQUAL scale of patient satisfaction [3].These instruments mainly focus on hospitals and patients but ignore healthcare workers
The health of healthcare workers and the quality of the health care they provide are severely impaired by job stress [8,9]; it is urgent to improve the quality of health care in this population [8,10]

Summary

Introduction

Popular assessment tools include the ISO9002 standard (comprising of hospital equipment, human resources, and overall management assessment)and the SERVQUAL scale of patient satisfaction [3]. These instruments mainly focus on hospitals and patients but ignore healthcare workers. Since the quality of health care cannot be assessed by only macro statistics or third-party evaluations [8], Chirurgisches Qualitätssiegel (CQS) [7,8]. The health of healthcare workers and the quality of the health care they provide are severely impaired by job stress [8,9]; it is urgent to improve the quality of health care in this population [8,10]. The main concern regarding job stress is its adverse effects on the health and

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion