Stress among nurses: a comparative study of two tertiary health care institutions in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the levels and sources of stress between nurses working in two tertiary health care settings in Jos, Nigeria. A total of 192 nurses participated in the study, with 92 from JUTH and from 100 PSH. The Expanded Nurses Stress Scale (ENSS) was used to measure the levels of stress and results show that there was no significant difference between the two samples, where F (1,191) = .472, p=.493.05 and participants had mean scores of 140.74, SD = 30.76 and 137.80, SD = 28.80 for JUTH and PSH, respectively. Similarly, there was no significant difference in the sources of stress for both samples, where F (1,190), p>.05. However, there were significant differences in the overall sample based on the dimensions of working environment where the emergency units had significantly higher levels of stress on the physical dimension with a mean of 20.00, SD = 8.49 and p=.003; the GOPD had significantly higher stress on the psychological dimension of the working environment with a mean score of 51.69, SD = 9.10 and p=.001; and the SCBU had a significantly higher stress levels on the social dimension of the working environment with a mean score of 73.60, SD = 9.29 and p=.005. It was concluded that nurses from the two health care institutions experienced similar levels of stress and would require stress prevention and management programs.