A Study on Biomarkers for Nurses’ Job Strain

• Main Authors: Tzu-Ling Chen, 陳姿伶
• Other Authors: 陳振和
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/22739370098028466082

碩士 === 長榮大學 === 職業安全與衛生研究所 === 97 === Previous studies have found that work stress can not only lead to physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms of life, but also causes disease, and even lead to occupational injury. Nursing was considered as a highly stressed work. It has been shown that working environment, insufficient working hours, role conflict, the role approval, the administration surface, interpersonal skills and insufficient of specialized knowledge are potential pressure sources for nurses. Nursing staff not only have to face the pressure listed above, but also have problems of the mental health effects such as frustration, depression, fatigue and even decline in job satisfaction. Research has also found that nursing staffs encounter different pressure in different departments. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship of worker’s pressure in nursing staffs from different departments of a medical center in Central Taiwan, based on questionnaire survey and measurement of biological parameters survey. The first questionnaire of the survey is working scale; the second part of the survey is the Working Stress Scale. The saliva from subjects of this study were collected and measured the concentration of cortisol, immunoglobulin A as well as ??-amylase. On professional stress scale (PSS), emergency department (ED) nurses had higher scores than those in general department (GD) nurses. The scores of PSS subscales, such as organizational structure and processes, lack of resources, and conflict with other professionals were higher in ED nurses than in GD nurses. However, the score of work load was higher in GD nurses than ED ones. The secretion of salivary cortisol, ??-amylase and immunoglobulin A in ED nurses had no significant difference from GD nurses. There is no correlation on PSS/PSS subscales and log cortisol, for ??-amylase and immunoglobulin A. The possible reasons were that ED nurses who had longer working experience and more more than 1/3 of the ED nurses were married. It has been shown that longer working experience and married status would reduce the working stress, which in turns change the score of PSS and eventually change the biological markers of stress such as cortisol, ??-amylase and IgA.