The association of primary healthcare nurses’ perceived stress with organizational culture and climate in a team context

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present study was to describe the association between primary healthcare (PHC) nurses’ perceived stress and organizational culture and climate in a team context. Design: A descriptive, cross-sectional correlation study. Methods: 29 teams in 18 PHC centers situated in one Lithuanian county participated in the study. A total of 187 nurses completed the Expanded Nursing Stress Scale, while 344 healthcare professionals (including nurses) responded to the Organizational Social Context questionnaire. Results: Absolute values of Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients between 0.19–0.24 (p < 0.01) were found when examining the association of nurses’ stress with organizational culture and climate across PHC teams. Whether the culture was resistant or proficient seemed to have associations with some of the stress factors experienced by nurses. Additionally, how the whole team reported stress or functionality in their organizational climate seemed to be associated with perceived stress of nurses. Conclusion: Investigating the organizational culture and climate experienced by PHC teams may help identify manageable problems and decrease stress experienced by nurses. The study also allows the possibility of nursing scholars using the study’s designs and instruments for further investigation of teams.

Keywords

• cross-sectional correlation study
• descriptive
• organizational climate
• organizational culture
• nurse stress
• primary healthcare