A Study to Assess Occupational Stress, Factors and Coping Strategies Among Nursing Personnel in Selected Hospitals of Kolkata, West Bengal

Nursing is a stressful profession due to various factors and coping with occupational stress influences their quality of life and care. So, a study to assess occupational stress, factors and coping strategies among nursing personnel in selected hospitals of Kolkata, West Bengal was conducted with the aim to assess the occupational stress, factors and coping strategies adopted by nursing personnel and find co-relation between occupational stress and coping strategies among nursing personnel. Quantitative descriptive survey research approach was adopted to collect data from 166 nurses selected by non-probability convenience sampling technique. Standardised Perceived Stress Scale, Brief-COPE and a self-developed interview schedule were administered by self-report method to collect data. Findings revealed that majority (89.15%) of nursing personnel had moderate level of occupational stress and the major stress factors were having a social life outside work (OR=1.88; p=0.022), lack of resources in hospital (OR=2.41; p=0.002) and constant changes in policies/protocols (OR=1.71; p=0.04) had higher chances of causing occupational stress. Majority of the nurses adopted use of instrumental support (mean score ± SD=4.96±1.37) to cope with occupational stress. Present study had several implications in nursing practice, education, administration and research. The present study recommended to conduct further studies on occupational stress of nurses in different departments and ways of coping. Key words: occupational stress, coping