Occupational stress in nursing: a review of the literature

Abstract

The management and reduction of occupational stress are recognized as key factors in promoting employee well-being. Nursing is one of the many disciplines contributing to a huge body of research into the causes and effect of the ill-defined phenomenon of occupational stress. This literature review considers the ontological contribution of a number of disciplines to a growing body of knowledge on the subject of stress. The paper examines the complex issue of stress management, highlighting the impact of organizational culture and transformational leadership style on staff satisfaction levels.

Stress and stressors in the clinical environment: a comparative study of fourth‐year student nurses and newly qualified general nurses in Ireland

“…Stress is a difficult concept to define precisely (Patel, 1996;Clegg, 2001;Keil, 2004), primarily as a result of the abundance of different disciplines with different perspectives on this subject (Le Blanc et al, 2000in Chmiel, 2000. Stringer is the Latin term for stress, which means to "draw tight" (Arnold et al, 1998, p.422).…”

“…However the consequences of stress in the working environment are considerable and include poor job satisfaction (McGowan, 2001) an association with high turnover (McCarthy et al, 2002) and impeded learning (Gaberson and Oermann, 1999). Therefore quantitative results with tested hypotheses to support the qualitative findings are necessary (Clegg, 2001). …”

“…However, in order to test a hypothesis, is a need to support these findings with a quantitative approach (Shaughnessy et al, 2000;Clegg, 2001). This concurs with the views of Clegg (2001) who asserts that the economic consequences of stress in the workplace are so apparent such as quantitative research into the causes and effects of stress in the workplace are justified.…”

“…Therefore, given the sensitive nature of stress (Clegg, 2001) in order to facilitate an ethics committee through which the author sought approval to carry out the study.…”

Clinical supervision, burnout and intent to leave: an Australian mixed methods study of community-based allied health professionals

“…Clinical supervision may be one strategy to protect health care workers against burnout (Livni et al, 2012;Queensland Health, 2009) as it has been suggested that increasing job resources such as professional support, mediates levels of burnout (Alkorashy & Baddar, 2016;Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001 It may be that clinical supervision can shield workers from burnout however there has been limited evidence to support these claims (Clegg, 2001;Koivu et al, 2012b), with varied and equivocal findings (Collins, 2008;Kim & Lee, 2009;Tilley & Chambers, 2003).…”