Relationship between Job Stress, Sleep Quality and Fatigue in Nurses

Abstract

Abstract Background & Aims: There are many stressful situations in nursing profession which could lead to the problems such as reduction of the quality and quantity of care, physical illness, fatigue and sleep disorders. This study was aimed to investigate job stress and its relationship with sleep quality and fatigue in nurses. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted on 200 nurses recruited by stratified random sampling and working in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences that. Data was collected by demographic sheet, Nursing Stress Scale (NSS), fatigue dimension of Checklist Individual Strength (CIS) and Pittsburgh sleep quality questionnaire (PSQI) and analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and statistical tests ( ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient) using SPSS-PC (v.16 ). Results: The results showed that 54%, 43% and 3% of nurses experienced severe, moderate and mild stress respectively and encountering with the patients’ suffering and death was reported as the most important stressor. Nurses’ job stress had also a statistically significant and direct correlation with sleep quality (P<0/004) and fatigue (P<0/001). Conclusion: The findings indicated that nurses' quality of sleep decreases and their fatigue increases with an increase in job stress. According to the results, managers can make appropriate decisions to reduce fatigue and sleep disorders in nurses.

Keywords

• fatigue
• job
• stress
• nurse
• sleep
• quality