Personal age and assessment of work stress in Polish nurses

Workers' perception of age and work stress was examined within the context of aging and work. Nurses from selected hospitals in a large Polish town completed the Survey of Health Care Professionals to assess their personal age and on-the-job and off-the-job stressors. The assessment of work performance, effort, and abilities associated with work demands and tiredness after the workday was compared between groups of subjects differing in the magnitude and direction of discrepancies between felt age and chronological age. The results showed that, compared to others, nurses feeling older than their chronological age assessed themselves as putting forth the highest effort to meet their work demands, reported more tiredness after the workday, and reported the lowest work abilities.