The Relationship between Perceived Stress and Coping Strategies among Nurses in the Burn Care Unit at the Main Alexandria University Hospital

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer of Psychiatric Nursing and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt

2 Lecturer of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt

3 Lecturer of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Modern University for Information and Technology, Egypt.

Abstract

Nurses caring for burn injured patient had high stress levels in the workload and time pressure. The
main stressful factors among burn injured patient care are high patients` death, emergency
situations, and low supportive relationships. Prolonged stress without effective coping strategies
may negatively contribute to the nurses’ quality of life and quality of care delivered. Aim of the
study: Assess perceived stress and coping strategies among nurses caring for burn injured patient
and to investigate the relationship between perceived stress and coping strategies among those
nurses. Design: A descriptive correlational design was utilized for this study. Setting: The study
was conducted in burn unit at Main Alexandria University hospital. Subjects: All nurses are
working in burn care unit (45 nurse) were included in the study. Tools: Socio-demographic and
work characteristics interview schedule, Perceived Stress and Brief Cope Scale. Results: Results of
the study revealed that, more than half of the studied nurses had moderate level of perceived stress
and rest of them having high level. The majority of the studied nurses had moderate level of
problem-focused, emotion focused and dysfunctional coping strategies. A positive statistical
significant relationship between nurses' perceived stress and behavioral disengagement & self
blame coping strategies and a negative statistical significant relationship between perceived stress
and active coping & planning, seeking emotional support and positive reframing coping strategies
were found. Conclusion & recommendations: Perceived stress among studied nurses negatively
related to problem- focused & emotion- focused coping strategies and positively related to
dysfunctional coping strategies. Based on the findings, it is recommended to implement programs to
tackle nurses’ stress level and improve their coping skills.

Keywords