Abstract: The authors discuss the usefulness of a generic tool to measure job stress in New Zealand workplaces, and report on a study using one such generic tool. The study involved sending questionnaires to all staff (193) who had worked at a regional women's health service for a minimum of six months. The mailed package contained the Job Stress Survey (JSS), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), demographic questions (including cultural safety), shift work questions, and a blank page for “qualitative comment”. Over 12,000 pieces of data were collected from the study but this article focuses only on the results of the JSS. The JSS can be used to determine a “job stress index” and can also be used to measure “job pressure” and “lack of organisational support”. For this study, job stress index scores were calculated and organised by occupational groupings. Midwives, nurses and doctors all cited inadequate or poor quality equipment, excessive paperwork, insufficient personal time, and frequent interruptions, as their top stressors. Three of these four stressors fall within the job pressure index. The results of the survey prompted organisational changes, including: extensive discussions; equipment being updated; management being made aware of the depth of concern felt by staff; the creation of a place for staff to have personal time; and coping intervention strategies were initiated. The authors suggest that no generic measure of job stress can fully evaluate stressors unique to a particular work setting. They support additional items being constructed and administered to assess stressors that are idiosyncratic to a particular occupational group.

Abstract: Hospital-based health systems have the potential to be high stress environments, as staff work towards meetings the many and varied demands of the patients and their families / whanau in a situation of limited resources and unpredictable workloads. Dealing with physical and emotional trauma, and the 'normal' exigencies of daily life in what may be a far from normal workplace may compound the stresses facing health workers. Nurses, who are often at the interface between patients and other health professionals, may be caught in a cross-fire of transferred stress while also coping with stressors associated with their jobs. As well as being likely to have a negative effect on their well-being and job satisfaction, any such compounding impact of stress and stressors could have adverse impacts on patients and their supporters. The primary focus of this study has been to identify stress levels among nurses in a woman's health service, and to establish the causes of elevated stress. All staff were surveyed (with a 68% response rate). Midwives made up the largest portion, followed by nurses, doctors, therapies, support and clerical groups. The Job Stress Survey (JSS) and the General Health Questionnaire – 12 (GHQ-12) were used to help detect emergent stressors, and stress effects that staff were experiencing at the time. Aggregate data was used, focusing on the six occupational groupings and the nine areas within the health service. Findings from the JSS confirm that the staff had experienced a number of stressors, while indications of deleterious mental health effects in some staff emerged from the GHQ-12 scores. Occupational stress is a subset of general stress, making it difficult to separate one from the other as spheres of our lives overlap and interact. The stressors that were identified should contribute to the discussions and policies that might abet the reduction of stress. On the other hand, it is not possible to attribute the effects describes by the GHQ-12 as being derived primarily from occupational stress. A stressed staff member, no matter what the source of their stress might be, still needs support in order to cope. The author notes that the negative outcomes of occupational stress manifests themselves in many ways such as; mistakes, absenteeism, horizontal violence, burnout and turnover. These all affect the quality of the patient care delivered, leading to decreased patient satisfaction and and need to be addressed for these reasons.

Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine and compare Australian and New Zealand nurses' experience of workplace stress, coping strategies and health status. A postal survey was administered to 328 New South Wales (Australia) and 190 New Zealand volunteer acute care hospital nurses (response rate 41%) from randomly sampled nurses. The survey consisted of a demographic questionnaire, the Nursing Stress Scale, the WAYS of Coping Questionnaire and the SF-36 Health Survey Version 2. More frequent workplace stress predicted lower physical and mental health. Problem-focused coping was associated with better mental health. Emotion-focused coping was associated with reduced mental health. Coping styles did not predict physical health. New South Wales and New Zealand scored effectively the same on sources of workplace stress, stress coping methods, and physical and mental health when controlling for relevant variables. Results suggest mental health benefits for nurses who use problem-solving to cope with stress by addressing the external source of the stress, rather than emotion-focused coping in which nurses try to control or manage their internal response to stress. Cultural similarities and similar hospital environments could account for equivalent findings for New South Wales and New Zealand.