By extracting the variables related to the work stress generated from nursing, identifying their relationships, and proposing an integrated model for coping stress, this study aims to contribute to academic progress on work stress. At the same time, b...
By extracting the variables related to the work stress generated from nursing, identifying their relationships, and proposing an integrated model for coping stress, this study aims to contribute to academic progress on work stress. At the same time, by applying the model to the field, the study attempts to reduce nurses' experiences of stress and thus raise efficiencies of hospital work. In order to accomplish this goal, this study proposes a hypothetic research model based on the examination of previous studies on work stress, applies this model for positivistic analyses and verifies it statistically.
The hypotheses of this study are as follows:
Hypothesis 1. The work stress sensing factors and the work stress coping strategy factors should have a statistically significant relationship.
Hypothesis 2. The work stress sensing factors and the demographic variants should have a statistically significant influence on the work stress coping strategies.
2-1. These two should have a statistically significant influence on the active coping strategy among the work stress coping strategies.
2-2. These two should have a statistically significant influence on the passive coping strategy among the work stress coping strategies.
2-3. These two should have a statistically significant influence on the evasive reaction among the work stress coping strategies.
Hypothesis 3. The work stress sensing and the work stress coping strategies should have a statistically significant average difference according to the medium variants.
3-1. The work stress sensing will vary according to the degree of social support.
3-2. The work stress sensing will vary according to the personality type.
3-3, The work stress coping will vary according to the degree of social support.
3-4. The work stress coping will vary according to the personality type.
Hypothesis 4. The work stress sensing factors affecting the work stress coping strategy factors will vary according to the medium variants.
4-1. The work stress sensing factors affecting work stress coping strategy factors will vary according to the behavior pattern.
4-2. The work stress sensing factors affecting work stress coping strategy factors will vary according to the degree of social support.
Hypothesis 5. The work stress coping strategy factors will vary according to the medium variants.
In order to verify the hypotheses stated above, a survey based on a preliminary research, was done on the nurses in all general hospitals located in Pusan. The questionnaire used only the questions relevant to the four factors extracted from the factor analysis based on HPSI, which Wolfgang(1988) began to use in order to measure the work stress sensing factors. Concerning the behavior pattern, the survey used the scale of Lee, Soo-Sik (1987), which adapted framingham (1978)'s scale to accommodate the situations in Korea. The scale of House (1974) was adapted and used to measure the degree of social support. The scale on the work stress coping strategy was used after extracting factors from combining and analyzing factors of the questionnaires of Davidson and Cooper (1985) , Latack (1984), and Lazarus and Folkman (1984).
Correlation analysis, regression analysis, and variability test method were used to analyze the material. The test results of this study are as follows for each hypothesis:
1. Among the work stress sensing factors, personal relationship, role ambiguity, and work autonomy showed correlation to the active coping strategy and the passive coping strategy, whereas it did not have any correlation to the evasive reaction. However, the physical resource environmental factor did not show any interpreted that, when the nurses perform their duties, stress generated by interpersonal relationships, the role ambiguity, and work autonomy causes the evasive reaction.
2. It is found that there is a meaningful influence by the active coping strategy the nurses adopt among the work stress coping strategies, on such stress sensing factors as the role ambiguity factor and the demographic variant of ages 20 and 25, and the size of the influence turns out to be around 15.6%.
3. The passive coping strategy the nurses adopt among the work stress coping strategies influences such stress-sensing factors as the role ambiguity factor and the experience variant of 6 to 10 years by about 21%.
4. The evasive reaction the nurses adopt among the work stress coping strategies was influenced by only the role ambiguity factor, and the size of the influence is approximately 4%.
5. It was found in all work stress sensing factors that the group with higher social support had a lesser degree of experiencing stress than the group with lower social support. In case of the behavior pattern, the type A experienced more stress than the type B only in personal relationship and role ambiguity.
6. It was found that the group with the lower social support tended to choose the evasive strategy while the group with the higher social support chose more active or passive coping strategy. In case of behavior pattern, the type A coped more actively than type B in the active coping and the passive coping, but did not show any difference in evasive reaction.
7. The Type A nurses react more passively when there is less stress from the physical resource environment. The less stress there was due to the physical resource environment, the more passively the Type A nurses reacted. On the other hand, the Type B nurses coped more passively when there was more stress due to the physical resource environment.
8. When the nurses with the low social support experience low stress from interpersonal relationships and when the nurses with the high social support face high stress from interpersonal relationships, it is found that they tended to cope more actively.
9. The less stress the nurses with the low social support experienced, and the more stress the nurses with the high social support experience, both stemming from interpersonal relationships, it is found that they tend to cope toward the positive direction.