Investigating the relationship between workplace stressors and caring behaviours of nursing staff in inpatient wards: A cross-sectional study

Aim The present study aimed to investigate the effects of various job stressors on caring behaviours of nursing staff. Design A cross-sectional nationwide study. Methods This cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 260 nurses employed in the inpatient wards of seven teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran during December 2019-February 2020. The participants were selected via convenience sampling. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the nursing stress scale and the caring behaviours inventory. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 20 using descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis. Results The results of regression analysis indicated that job stress is correlated with nurses' caring behaviours (beta = -.36; p = .001). Factors such as workload (beta = -.27; p = .001), uncertainty about patient treatment (beta = -.26; p = .017) and lack of emotional preparation (beta = -.20; p = .017) were the important stressors associated with nurses' caring behaviours. Conclusions According to the results, high levels of perceived job stress due to workload, uncertainty about patient treatment and lack of emotional preparation are associated with lower levels of nurses' caring behaviours. Impacts The findings of this study showed that to provide patients with optimal caring behaviours, hospital and nursing managers should design interventions to reduce nurses' job stressors, especially in terms of their interactions with their colleagues and physicians.

Automated summary

The study aimed to investigate the effects of job stressors on caring behaviours of nursing staff. The results showed a significant correlation between job stress and nurses' caring behaviours, with factors such as workload, uncertainty about patient treatment, and lack of emotional preparation being important stressors.