Relationships among occupational stress, toileting behaviors, and overactive bladder in nurses: A multiple mediator...

To investigate: (a) the prevalence of overactive bladder among male and female operating room nurses; (b) the unhealthy toileting behaviours that nurses adopt to void their bladders; and (c) the mediating roles that different toileting behaviours play in the relationship between occupational stress and overactive bladder.

A cross-sectional design was used.

This study was conducted from July - September 2016 in Jinan, China. Four hundred eligible operating room nurses in five hospitals were recruited. Data were collected through survey questionnaires including the nurse job stress scale, the toileting behaviours scale and the overactive bladder symptom score questionnaire. Multivariate linear or logistic regression models, as appropriate, were used to test the mediation effect of each toileting behaviour on the relationship between occupational stress and overactive bladder.

Overactive bladder was highly prevalent in both male and female nurses working in operating rooms. Approximately one of three nurses reported experiencing an overactive bladder. The most common unhealthy toileting behaviour was delayed voiding. Unhealthy toileting behaviours mediated the relationship between occupational stress and overactive bladder. With high levels of occupational stress, nurses tended to adopt unhealthy toileting behaviours to empty their bladders. The more the nurses engaged in unhealthy toileting behaviours (e.g. delayed voiding and straining to void), the greater the likelihood of having overactive bladders.

This study highlights the mediating role of toileting behaviours on occupational stress and overactive bladder. To accommodate occupational stress, nurses engaged in unhealthy toileting behaviours that were detrimental to their bladder health.