Job-related Stress among Nurses Working at Referral Hospitals of Amhara Region, Ethiopia: A Mixed Method

Abstract

Background: job stress among nurses is a major concern. Since, nurses are frontline health
care providers in Ethiopian hospitals, always overloaded with various tasks that affect their
physical and mental health. The nature of the work and the hospital environment majorly

affected the nurses’ work. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to assess nurse’s job-
related stress in Amhara Region and identify stressors that lead to stress. Methods: Institution

based cross-sectional mixed methods was used to investigate the view of the people in-depth.
A total of 409 nurses were included in the quantitative study by using simple random
sampling. For both the quantitative and qualitative study, at the initial stage of data collection
and interview; informed consent was obtained from respondents. Internal validity was
checked by using Cronbach’s alpha. An in-depth interview guide was developed to prove
questions and facilitate communication and was conducted by researchers. Trained nurses
were participated in the data collection process and supervision. The data were entered into
Epidata version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 21 for and Open Code Version 6.0
software to analyze qualitative data. For the qualitative study, purposive sampling technique
was employed, and 12 participants were interviewed. Thematic analysis was used. Results:
The overall 51.6% (211) of nurses had job-related stress among the total of 409 nurses.
Related to the role of nurses, about 56.6% (231) of participants were clear what is expected of
them at work. Working units, experience, hospital environment, workload, needles stick injury
and blood splash, and death and dying were identified as factors affecting nurses’ working
conditions. Conclusion: The overall nurses’ stress was high. The working pressure among
staff nurses, unfavorable working conditions, and the risk of infections were the major factors
affecting nurses’ jobs. We suggested that hospital managers, policymakers, and higher
officials should tackle those factors affecting nurses’ jobs that can make a safe health care
environment.