Assessment of Occupational Stress among Healthcare Workers in St. Joseph Orthopaedic Hospital, Koforidua-Ghana

Abstract

Occupational stress is on the rise, cutting across all professions and it is even severe in the healthcare profession. Since these workers take care of the sick, any change in their physical and mental well-being is likely to affect the care given to patients. This study sought to assess occupational stress among the healthcare workers of St Joseph orthopaedic hospital, identify the factors responsible for their stress and explore their coping strategies. A cross-sectional quantitative approach was adopted for this study. A systematic sampling was used to select a sample of 202 respondents which cut across the frontline health workers of the hospital. A self-administered structured questionnaire solicited basic information about their social and work characteristics and measured the occupational stress using the Workplace Stress Scale. The common stressors and coping mechanisms were identified, using adapted versions of the Job Content Questionnaire and Lazarus-Folkman Coping Scale respectively. All the responses from these scales were measured on 5-point Likert. The data were analysed with Stata 15 statistical software. A total of 172 out of 202 responded, representing a response rate of 85%. It was found that 78.4% of the health workers experienced occupational stress, with 48.8% in severe stress level. Majority (46.6%) of those in the severe stress level were nurses. Chi-square analysis done revealed that characteristics such sex, marital status, job designation and mode of transport were significantly associated with occupational stress. A further analysis of Pearson’s correlation established a positive relationship between job demand and stress but a negative one between job support and occupational stress. The commonly reported stressors included insufficient salary, lack of control over decisions concerning their work, workload and insufficient support from both colleagues and supervisors. The coping strategies they ranked high included seeking support from friends, praying, and making steps to address whatever is causing the stress. Thus, making use of both emotion-focused and problem-focused approaches. Majority of the staff reporting such high level of stress is a wake-up call on the management to put measures in place to deal with it in order to ensure maximum output from the healthcare workers and promote quality of care to clients.

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MPH.

Keywords

Occupational Stress, Healthcare, St. Joseph Orthopaedic Hospital

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