Effect of Occupational Stress on Work Behavior as Perceived by Nurses at Benue State University Teaching Hospital...

Every work environment, especially in hospital settings must be conducive, friendly, and stress-free in order to promote quality care and the well-being of healthcare workers, whose job demands are increasing by the day.

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived effect of occupational stress on work behavior among nurses at Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi.

From the facility's population of nurses, a quantitative survey randomly chose 150 respondents nurses, for the purpose of gathering information and testing the hypothesis, a well- developed and validated questionnaire was employed to gather data. Using SPSS, the data were descriptively analyzed, and an inferential analysis with a significance level of 5% was performed using Pearson's Chi-square test (0.05).

The majority of participants (56.6%) were men with a higher level of education. This study also shows the effect of occupational stress on work behavior as poor work performance 142 (94.7%), counterproductive work behavior 139 (92.7%), increases the incidence of absenteeism 112 (74.7%), high occurrence of medication error 120 (80%), Negative effect on teamwork 98 (65.3%), increases the incidence of Substance use disorders 95 (63.3), and aggressive attitude toward patients during nursing care 137 (91.3). Furthermore, there is a significant association between occupational stress and job satisfaction (x2 = 25.49, df = 8, and p < 0.001), patient safety (x2 = 51.07, df = 8, and P = 0.002), and nurses' attitudes toward their patients (x2 = 86.67, df = 12, and P = 0.012).

We discovered that workplace stress can affect how happy nurses are with their jobs and how they behave while providing nursing care. We recommend that hospital administrators implement a plan to create a stress-free working environment for nurses.