Perceived psychosocial work environmental factors and perceived stress of psychiatric nurses in an in-patient care hospital

Abstract

Background: Psychosocial work environment plays a major role in predicting the nurses’ stress, wellbeing, and productivity in their workplaces. Psychiatric nurses encounter multiple hazards in their work environment which are detrimental to their physical and emotional wellbeing. psychiatric environment may entails managing unpredictable mentally ill and aggressive patients. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to describe the psychosocial work environment, how nurses perceived their stressors and to identify the factors that nurses perceive as stressful in a psychiatric hospital. Methods: This study used a crosscross-sectional design and survey method, using the QPS Nordic General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychosocial and Social Factors and The Perceived Stress Scale. Data analysis: All statistical analysis was conducted using the STATA Windows programme (version 15). Descriptive statistics were used to describe and summarize the demographic profile, perceived stress, and psychosocial work environment of the participants. The Mann-Whitney U-test, and the Pearson correlation were applied to assess associations between stress and independent variables. Setting: Conducted at a specialized tertiary psychiatric hospital in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Results: The population of the study was dominated by females i.e., 71.88% and the age group between 21 to 35 of age dominated the number of nurses (48.48%). Majority of nurses (51.56%) reported having witnessed incidences of bullying or harassment and 26.56% of the participants reported having been subjected to bullying in their workplace. Many nurses perceived their stress level as moderate. Logistic regression was the results revealed that positive associations between stress and perceived predictability of work. Conclusion: Unpredictability of their work environment was directly linked to high-perceived stress level.