Quality of life of nurses and strategies for coping with stress experienced in the work environment

Abstract

Introduction Nurses, due to the nature of their work, are the professional group especially vulnerable to functioning under stress. Objective Evaluation of the impact of socio-demographic factors and factors related with work environment on the quality of life of nurse anaesthetists, and the recognition of the relationship between strategies used by nurses to cope with the stress and their quality of life. Material and Methods The study included 253 nurses working in operating theatres and intensive care units. The data was collected using an author-constructed questionnaire, a shortened version of the WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire, and the Mini-COPE questionnaire. The empirical material was analyzed statistically. The p values p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results A statistically significant relationship was found between education and the level of quality of life in the psychological domain, which differed according to education level in favour of nurses with higher 2 nd -level education. The financial situation of nurses was significantly related with the quality of life in all domains; however, the strongest relationship was observed between financial situation and the level of quality of life in the environmental domain. The strategies of coping with stress most often used by nurses were strategies within the group of so-called „Active coping”. Significant correlations were confirmed between the perception of the quality of life in psychological and social domains, which concerned ten strategies for coping with stress for each domain. Conclusions The quality of life of nurses is associated with active coping with stress, and is determined by education, material standard and the period of professional experience at the currently held position.