Emotional, Social and Occupational Adjustment among Oncology Nurses

Background: Social, occupational and emotional adjustment of Oncology nurses were assessed and compared with other nurses in this study. Subjects and Methods: One hundred nurses including Oncology nurses (n=50) and non-Oncology nurses (n=50) participated in cross-sectional study conducted in Shariati Hospital. Bell's Adjustment Inventory was used to measure social, emotional and occupational adjustment. Survey data were entered into SPSS statistical software, version 18 and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for data analysis. Results: The study included nurses from Women's Internal Medicine ward (14%), Men's Internal Medicine ward (13%); Midwifery unit (17%), Operating room (15%) and Hematology-Oncology ward (41%). The mean age of the participants was 36.98 ± 8.28 years. In group of Hematology-Oncology nurses, the mean scores for occupational, social and emotional adjustment were 13.23 ± 1.99, 12.47 ± 1.79 and 18.19 ± 2.52, respectively. Data analysis showed that there is a statistically significant difference in the mean score of three areas of adjustment between Oncology nurses and their colleagues working in general wards (p-value=0.002, p-value<0.001, p-value<0.001 for occupational, social and emotional adjustment, respectively). Conclusion: The results of the study indicated that Oncology nurses had significantly lower social, occupational and emotional adjustment compared with nurses working in other wards.