Occupational Stress, Social Relationships at the Workplace, Psychological Wellbeing and Coping Strategies of Nurses and Midwives: A Study in the Catholic Health Service of the Western Region of Ghana

Abstract

This study investigated occupational stress, social relationships at the workplace, psychological wellbeing and coping strategies of nurses and midwives in the Catholic Health Service of the Western Region, Ghana. Positivist research philosophy was employed for the study, and a quantitative research approach was adopted. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used for the study. A sample of 300 nurses and midwives (nurses= 237; midwives = 63) was selected from four purposely selected Catholic Hospitals in the Catholic Health Service of the Western Region of Ghana. For gathering information from participants, a questionnaire based on Nurses' Occupational Stress Scale was adopted to measure the level of occupational stress; Ryff's Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWB 18 items) to measure the level of psychological wellbeing, the Coping Strategies Inventory (CSI-SF, 1989) to measure the type of coping strategies adopted  and the Worker Relationship Scale developed by Biggs, Swailes and Baker (2016) to measure the level of social relationships at the workplace among nurses and midwives. Statistical tools used to analyse data were one-sample t-test, Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficients, one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, regression, t-test and ANOVA. The findings of the study showed that nurses and midwives in the Catholic Health Service in the Western Region experience significantly high levels of stress, positive psychological wellbeing and favourable work-related social relationship. The study also found that occupational stress was moderately and weakly associated with psychological wellbeing and workplace social relationships. The study results also indicated that nurses and midwives adopted both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies but predominantly adopted problem-focused coping strategies in dealing with occupational stress. Also, the study's findings indicated that psychological wellbeing and social relationships at the workplace significantly impact the experiences of occupational stress among nurses and midwives. The study results also showed that occupational stress had a significant influence on the psychological wellbeing of nurses and midwives. It was recommended that the Ministry of Health employ Counselling Psychologists for all health facilities in Ghana to meet the counselling needs of nurses and midwives and, by extension, all health workers. Also, the Ministry of Health and its agencies should post enough nurses and midwives to  where they are needed the most and ensure they report to such places. There be workshops and continuous professional development for nurses and midwives on coping strategies, social relationships, and psychological wellbeing.