2001 Volume 16 Issue 1 Pages 69-81
Mental health problems among hospital nurses have been studied from the viewpoint of burn-out, although few studies in Japan focus on the characteristics of their work stress and the correlates to their mental health in comparison with the workers occupied in other jobs. In the present study, a questionnaire survey was given to 178 hospital nurses occupied with 3-shift-work. Their work stress and mental health status, assessed by the general health questionnaire (GHQ), were analyzed. The characteristics of their work stress, compared with the white-collar workers in previous studies, were as follows; a) high jobdemand and, in particular, problems in personal relations with colleagues; b) as much job-control as that of white-collar workers, c) less support from colleagues compared with that of white-collar workers, and d) relatively more reward from work. Their mental health status was independently correlated with their workload, problems in personal relations, mental workload, support from colleagues, reward from work, difficulty in patient-nurse relationship, and stress-coping of “waiting patiently”. The associations of these results with the background of hospital nurses are discussed.
