Job Stress and Occupational Health Nursing

Abstract

Job stress is a condition or event in the workplace that induces strain (a physical, psychological, or behavioral response to a stressor). The outcome of unrelieved job stress can be burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Identification and treatment of job stress falls into four conceptual models: medical, clinical/ counseling psychology, engineering psychology, and organizational psychology.Occupational health nurses can experience job stress in the areas of intrinsic job factors, organizational structures, reward systems, human resource systems, and leadership. Because occupational health nurses promote stress reduction strategies in worker populations, modeling these behaviors is important to enhance the credibility of those promoting such strategies.