Work-related stress and work ability among Croatian university hospital midwives
Bojana Knezevic1, Milan Milosevic, Rajna Golubic
1Department of Quality Control, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Kispaticeva 12, Zagreb, Croatia. bojana.knezevic@inet.hr
Objective:
to explore the sources and levels of stress at work and work ability among Croatian midwives.
Background:
midwives are subjected to multiple stressors. Among health-care professionals, psychological distress for a prolonged period of time has negative effects on the worker's health, work ability and quality of patient care. 'Work ability' is a term describing a worker's resources related to physical, mental and social demands at work. As a measure of work ability in midwifery, the Work Ability Index (WAI) is considered to be a very predictive instrument; midwives with a poor WAI score usually leave their current job within five years.
Setting:
university hospitals in Zagreb, Croatia.
Design:
cross-sectional design survey.
Participants:
300 health-care workers (105 qualified midwives and 195 paediatric nurses) were invited to complete the questionnaire. The total response rate was 53% (158/300). The sample included 14.7% of all hospital-based midwives in Zagreb hospitals.
Methods:
the Occupational Stress Assessment Questionnaire (OSAQ) for health-care workers and the WAI questionnaire.
Findings:
over three-quarters of the midwives (46/60, 76.7%) believed that their job was stressful, and considered that insufficient work resources caused the most stress. More than half of the midwives associated an insufficient number of coworkers, unexpected situations, inadequate income, night work, incurable patients and poor organisation at work with a high level of stress. The perceived specific stressors differed between midwives and paediatric nurses in the same hospital. Insufficient work resources and poor organisation at work were more common stressors among midwives than paediatric nurses (p<0.05). Midwives and nurses differed significantly with respect to age (p=0.002). Midwives were younger and had spent fewer years working in their current workplace compared with paediatric nurses (p<0.001). Also, midwives had a lower level of education than paediatric nurses (p=0.044). The mean WAI score for midwives was 40.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) 38.4-41.4], compared with 37.5 (95% CI 36.4-38.8) for paediatric nurses, both indicating good work ability. After adjusting for age, the difference in WAI score between the groups of workers was not significant.
Conclusions:
Croatian midwives experienced work-related stress due to: insufficient work resources, insufficient number of coworkers, poor organisation at work, communication with superiors and emotional work. Midwives' work ability in relation to the demands of their job was good. These results confirmed that the WAI score decreases significantly with age.
Implications For Practice:
hospital management needs to improve organisational factors and resources, as well as midwives' education and position in the health-care system.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Stress and Mental Health
Individuals with depression often experience challenges in both their personal and professional...
01:26Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques IV
01:20Psychological Responses to Stress
01:21General State of Stress
Specifically, consider a tetrahedral element where one face, labeled XYZ, is perpendicular to the line OA, and the remaining faces align with the coordinate axes with point O as the origin. At any point, such as point O, the stress tensor can be used to determine the stress...
01:25Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques III
The Role of Exercise in Stress Management
Regular physical activity is essential for reducing stress and promoting cardiovascular health. Exercise strengthens the heart, enhances blood flow, keeps blood vessels flexible, and helps lower blood pressure, all of which reduce the body's stress response. Research shows that adults who exercise regularly have nearly half the risk...
01:23Types of Stressors
Catastrophes
Catastrophes refer to large-scale, unpredictable events that create overwhelming stress and a sense of threat. Examples include natural disasters like...