Psychological Health and Its Relation with Occupational Stress in Midwives

Abstract

Occupational stress and employee's health status can affect their productiveness and quality of services. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the relation between psychological health and occupational stress among midwives employed at the governmental and private hospitals of Neyshabur, Iran. In this cross-sectional (descriptive and analytical) study conducted in 2015, all of the employed midwives in the governmental and private hospitals of Neyshabur (78 people) were enrolled. Data were gathered through the Goldberg General Health and the Altmaier's Occupational Stress Questionnaire. Data analysis was done with SPSS 20. Only 14% of the midwives were psychologically healthy, and 86% had some degrees of psychological disorders. In addition, 54% of them were averagely stressed and 46% suffered from severe stress. The results of this research showed an opposite and significant association between psychological health and occupational stress in midwives (P=0.049). Most midwives working in these hospitals suffered from psychological disorders. Probably occupational stress was involved in deteriorating their psychological health.

Keywords

• Psychological
• Occupational
• Stress
• Midwives
• Iran