WORKPLACE STRESSORS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG PUBLIC HOSPITAL NURSES IN MEDAN, INDONESIA
ABSTRACT: Nursing is
considered as a stressful job when compared with other jobs. Prolonged stress
without effective coping strategies affects not only nurses’ occupational life
but also their nursing competencies. Medan is the biggest city in Sumatera
Island of Indonesia. Two tertiary public hospital nurses in this city hold the
responsibility in providing excellent care to their patients. Objective: To
investigate the relationships between the nurse’s workplace stressors and the
coping strategies used. Method: The descriptive correlational study was
conducted to examine the relationships between workplace stressors and the
coping strategies used in nurses of two public hospitals in Medan. The sample size
of 126 nurses was drawn from selected in-patient units. Data were collected by
using self-report questionnaires and focus group interview. The majority of
subjects experienced low workplace stressors, where death/dying was the most
commonly reported workplace stressor followed by workload. Religion was the
most commonly used coping strategy. Result: Significant correlations were found
between subscales of workplace stressors and coping strategies. Most of
subjects used emotion-focused and dysfunctional coping strategies rather than
problem-focused coping strategies. Conclusion: The nurse administrators in the
hospitals need to advocate their in order to use problem-focused coping
strategies more frequent than emotion-focused and dysfunctional coping strategies
when dealing with workplace stressors.
Author: Achmad Fathi, Tasanee
Nasae, Pratyanan Thiangchanya
Journal Code: jpkeperawatangg120008
