Nurses' job stressors and social support behaviors: Comparing public, teaching, and private hospitals

Different work environments may create different nurses' job stressors, and in turn, may need different social support behaviors to help nurses overcome these stressors.

This study aimed at comparing nurses' job stressors and social support behaviors in three different work environments (i.e., public, teaching, and private hospitals) in Jordan and examining the predictors of these stressors and social support behaviors.

This was a descriptive comparative study in which data were collected using the Nursing Stress Scale and the Inventory of Social Supportive Behaviors from 139, 190, and 135 nurses from the public, teaching, and private hospitals, respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistics including comparative and multiple linear regression statistics were used.

The results indicated that there were no significant differences in the total scores of job stressors and social support behaviors among nurses at the three types of hospitals. However, significant differences were reported in the subscales of job stressors in teaching and public hospitals and in individual items of both scales across the three kinds of hospitals. Controlling for nurses' characteristics, the scores of both scales were not predicted by the type of hospitals.

Similar to public hospitals, teaching, and private hospitals, administrators should initiate various social support behaviors in their clinical settings, and should consider the predictors of job stressors to help nurses overcome their job stressors.