[Magnitude estimation of stress in view of nursing care]

Stress is defined as the physiological, psychological and behavioral response of an individual attempting to adapt to internal and external pressure. This study aimed at observing how nursing students perceive stress in view of the care delivered in hospitals. Direct psychophysical methods, ratio scale and cross-modality matching were used. The sample consisted of 15 students registered in the third term of a nursing program. The ratio scale for nursing care was subject to psychophysical validation through the cross-modality matching method. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire containing 15 types of nursing care delivered at hospitals, in which the task consisted in estimating a number for each type, which would be proportional to the amount of stress caused during its performance. Results showed that permanent vesical probing is considered the most stressful type of care, followed by relief vesical probing, and that temperature taking was regarded as the least stressful technique. There is a need for further study, through other comparisons and with other population samples.