Abstract
BackgroundDuring their workday, nurses face a variety of stressors that are dealt with using different coping strategies. One criticism of the contextual models of work stress is that they fail to focus on individual responses like coping with stress. Neverthless, little is know about the momentary determinants of coping in nurses.ObjectivesTo identify the momentary predictors of problem-focused approaching coping and emotion-focused approaching coping, as well as those for seeking social support and refusal coping strategies, during the working day in nurses.DesignThis study uses descriptive, correlational, two-level design with repeated measures.SettingsWards of two University hospitals.ParticipantsA random cohort of 113 nurses was studied.MethodsAn ecological momentary assessment was made of demand, control, effort, reward, nursing task, coping, mood and fatigue, and of coping style by questionnaire. Multilevel two-level statistical analyses were performed in order to identify both within person and between person relationships.ResultsDifferent momentary types of coping were associated with different tasks. The problem-focused coping could be explained by the direct care and medication tasks, demand, planning coping style, mood, and negatively by acceptation coping style. Emotion-focused coping could be explained by documentation and medication tasks (negatively), mood, demand, distraction, and disengagement coping styles. Seeking social support coping could be explained by the task of communication, mood, fatigue (negatively), and seeking emotional support as a coping style. Refusal coping could be explained by mood, and the coping style of focusing and venting emotions. Refusal coping is not specific to any task.ConclusionsThe choice of the coping strategy depends on the task, of their appraisal and on the different styles of coping.
Highlights
Nurses are exposed to different risk factors, such as the organizational climate, irregular hours, excessive workloads, insufficient support from supervisors and partners, violence at work, and contact with suffering or death [1,2,3,4,5]
Nurses who suffer strong psychological demands in conjunction with a lack of control over their work appear to be at a higher risk of developing physical and psychological problems [12, 13]; this combination of factors is well established in the Demand/Control Work Stress Model [14,15,16]
The development of chronic stress in a work context has been explained by the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model [17]
Summary
Nurses are exposed to different risk factors, such as the organizational climate, irregular hours, excessive workloads, insufficient support from supervisors and partners, violence at work, and contact with suffering or death [1,2,3,4,5] These factors may have important consequences for the physical and mental health of these professionals, influencing their performance at work and provoking hypertension, asthma, loss of concentration, apathy, loss of motivation, difficulties in decision making, reduced efficacy, depression, insomnia, anxiety, etc. In the short- to mid-term an imbalance between effort and reward would generate greater vulnerability to disease, e.g., gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal disorders, hypertension or cardiovascular disease, and psychological problems [18, 19] Among nurses, such an imbalance seems to be associated with frequent short episodes of sick leave, an intention to leave their job, job turnover, work-home conflicts, burn-out, emotional exhaustion, low perceived health, depression and anxiety [20,21,22,23]. Neverthless, little is know about the momentary determinants of coping in nurses
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