Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Stress Reaction among Nurses with 2-5 Years of Job Experience

Abstract

This study incorporated a questionnaire survey on 199 nurses having 2-5 years of job experience with the objective of clarifying the relationship between self-efficacy and stress reactions. Anxiety over failure was high for self-efficacy. Among the nurse stressors, those that had job descriptions involving potential loss of human life and technical innovation were high, while relationships with doctors were low. The questionnaire on job stress showed that subjective physical burden and psychological load (quality and quantity) were characteristic job stressors. Fatigue was at the center of the stress reactions. Satisfaction with job or life was low in the factors effective on stress reactions.
The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the factors increasing stress reactions were job difficulty, speaking ill of supervisors with colleagues, and the relationship with the patient and the patient's family, while those decreasing them were the level of job discretion, satisfaction with work or life, psychological load (quality), anxiety over failure, and support from colleagues. Anxiety over failure was related to supervisors' praise. It follows that supervisors' praise of nurses with 2-5 years of job experience may prove effective in reducing stress reaction with regards to self-efficacy.