PERCEIVED STRESS AND STRESSORS AMONG NURSING STAFF IN BESUT HOSPITAL

Introduction: Nursing is a profession that faces high demands in providing services for human being. They are exposed to many stressful demands and pressures which directly and indirectly affecting their quality and productivity of their work. Hence, and attempt has been made with the aim to assess the perceived stress among all nursing staff in Besut Hospital and its stressors. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study has been carried out among all nursing staff in Besut Hospital from 15th April till 15th June 2020.Perceived stress level was assessed using validated Malay version of Perceived Stress Scale. A 19-item Likert Scale questionnaires was used to assess source of stress among them. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: Majority of the participant were 31-49 years of age, Malay, female and married. Majority of them were diploma holder, had more than 15 years’ job experience and earn more than RM 3000 per month. The study shows that majority of the nursing staff had moderate perceived stress (62.5%). Among the 5 major sources of stressors contributing to their perceived stress, findings revealed that inconsiderate or inequitable supervisor (80.0%) is the highest source of job stress among nursing staff in this hospital. There is significant linear positive relationship between age group and perceived stress. Nursing staff age 25-49 had 0.187 lower in perceived stress compare with those age 40-59. Conclusion: Based on this study, nursing staff had moderate perceived stress and inconsiderate or inequitable supervisor is the highest source of job stress. The finding in this study may lead for further research involving relationship among superior and staff in nursing so that intervention could be made to improve this problem in improving the nursing quality and productivity in their work.