Occupational stress, its psychosomatic symptoms on nurses and Coping Strategies of nurses at Assiut University Hospital

Nursing is a stressful profession; stress is a prevalent and costly problem in today's workplace. Aim: The study aimed to assess occupational stress, its psychosomatic symptoms on nurses and coping strategies of nurses at Assiut University Hospital. Design: A descriptive- cross sectional study design was utilized in this study. Subjects and methods: The subjects included in this study 150 female nurses. The study was conducted at Assiut University Hospital at different hospital departments, during 6 months period from 1st January to 30th Juan 2012. Nurses were assessed through; the sociodemographic data questionnaire, in addition to socioeconomic status scale, Social readjustment rating scale, assessment level of stress scale, Coping strategies rating scale, and Symptoms Check List (SCL-90-Revised). Results: More than half of nurses (54.7%) were from urban areas, about fifty percent 50.7% of them had more than 10 years of experience, and sixty four percent 64% of nurses had moderate level of stress. Both methods of coping strategies (emotional focused strategies and problem focused strategies) had high mean scores and very highly significant (0.006*** & 0.000***). Recommendation: A training programme is essential for nurses to provide them with a multitude of stress management techniques and coping strategies which nurses can be used to deal with their stressors and avoid the negative effect of stress on nurse' health.