Frontiers in Psychiatry (Aug 2018)

Mental Health Symptoms and Work-Related Stressors in Hospital Midwives and NICU Nurses: A Mixed Methods Study

  • Céline Favrod,
  • Lauranne Jan du Chêne,
  • Chantal Martin Soelch,
  • Susan Garthus-Niegel,
  • Jean-Francois Tolsa,
  • Francois Legault,
  • Virginie Briet,
  • Antje Horsch,
  • Antje Horsch

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00364
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Hospital midwives and neonatal intensive care (NICU) nurses frequently encounter work-related stressors and are therefore vulnerable to developing mental health problems, such as secondary traumatic stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. However, so far, the exact nature of these work-related stressors (traumatic vs. non-traumatic stressors) has not been investigated. This concurrent triangulation mixed methods cross-sectional study aimed to compare mental health symptoms in hospital midwives and NICU nurses, and to identify and compare work-related traumatic and non-traumatic stressors for both professional groups. 122 midwives and 91 NICU nurses of two Swiss university hospitals completed quantitative measures (Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale, STSS; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS; Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI) and one qualitative question in an online survey. When controlling for socio-demographic variables, NICU nurses had a higher STSS total score and higher STSS subscales scores and less HADS anxiety subscale scores than hospital midwives. Work-related stressors were classified into five themes: “Working environment,” “Nursing/midwifery care,” “Dealing with death and dying,” “Case management” and “Others.” Forty-six (46.3%) percent of these were classified as traumatic work-related stressors. NICU nurses reported more traumatic stressors in their working environment but no other differences between professional groups regarding the total number of work-related traumatic vs. non-traumatic stressors were found. Measures, such as teaching strategies to amend the subjective appraisal of the traumatic stressors or providing time to recover in-between frequently occurring work-related traumatic stressors might not only improve the mental health of professionals but also decrease sick leave and improve the quality of patient care.

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