Engagement and labour stress in nursing
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abstract
Engagement is a useful concept in the profession of
nursing as it focuses on the positive dimension of human behaviour
and visualizes the work context as a positive situation.
Evaluate the stress and engagement levels on Portuguese
and Spanish nurses and analyse the factors related to the
stress and engagement levels in the two sample groups.
Comparative exploratory study in a quantitative paradigm.
Sample of 867 nurses (504 Portuguese, 363 Spanish), female
83.6% (78.6% Portugal, 90.6% Spain) and average age of 37. Portuguese
(77.2%) and Spanish nurses (39.4%), work on average 40
hours per week. 60.6% and 57.7% of the Spanish and Portuguese respectively
exercise their profession for 10 years. Sociodemographic
questionnaire, the Pamela Gray-Toft’s Nursing Stress Scale (1981)
and Schaufeli & Bakker’s Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (2003)
were used.
In what concerns Engagement there are statistically signiicant
differences in the three dimensions, the p-value of the
t-Student test were under 5%, highlighting the Spanish nurses for being more vigorous, dedicated and absorbed by their work:
vigour, dedication and absorption. The sample of Portuguese nurses
experience higher stress levels although the difference with
Spanish nurses isn’t statistically signiicant. There are statistically
signiicant differences between Portugal and Spain in “Lack
of help from colleagues” and also in the psychological domain in
general.
The Spanish nurses feel more vigorous, dedicated
and absorbed by their work. The Portuguese nurses perceive more
psychological stress and mention having less help from colleagues.
