Relationship between stress and performance in a Japanese nursing organization

The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between job stress, stress coping ability and performance among Japanese nurses.

Health risk and organization environment as job stress factors, sense of coherence (SOC) as stress coping ability and medical risk indicator and sickness-absence days as a performance proxy were used to investigate the relationship between stress and performance. Length of professional experience also was included in the investigation.

The findings suggest a possibility that enriching nurses' professional experiences reduces medical risk. There is also a possibility that raising the SOC, while improving organization environment, contributes to reducing sickness-absence.

A cross-sectional study of nurses in a single institution was used. In order to generalize the study's results, it will be necessary to conduct multi-institutional longitudinal studies.

The present study shows key factors affecting medical risk and sickness-absence leading to a reduced nursing performance.