The Effectiveness of a Nurse-led Education on Coping Strategies of Occupational Stress among Nurses in Tertiary Hospitals, Ekiti State, Nigeria

This study determined the effectiveness of a nurse-led education on coping strategies in reducing occupational stress among nurses in two selected tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State. The quasi-experimental method was used. One hundred eighteen (118) nurses were selected and allocated into intervention and control groups using a simple balloting technique. The nurses in the intervention groups had three sessions of educational workshops within a month, while those in the control groups had none. Data were collected pre and post-intervention and analysed using Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, and Paired t-tests. The majority (79%) of the nurses were female; the prevalent type of stress experience was due to workload, with a mean stress score of almost three across all groups. There were no differences between the pre and post-intervention stress levels for all types of stress apart from stressful situations due to conflict among nurses. Most participants reported physical symptoms of stress, and multiple coping strategies improved significantly among the intervention groups. The study suggests that nurse-led education could improve the use of coping strategies among nurses.