Current Status and Influencing Factors of Secondary Traumatic Stress in Emergency and Intensive Care nurses:A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Figures & data

Table 1 Participants’ (n=434) Stress, Anxiety and Depression Scores

Scale Scores	Score ()	Number (n=434)	%
STSS total	33.83±12.74
Low	33.73±2.69	147	33.9
Medium	40.50±1.68	119	27.4
High	45.92±1.38	116	26.8
Extremely high	54.84±7.18	52	11.9
GAD-7	6.05±4.13
No or mild anxiety	7.55±0.80	93	21.4
Moderate anxiety	11.76±1.13	114	26.3
More than moderate	14.61±1.06	184	42.4
Severe anxiety	21.72±2.63	43	9.9
PHQ-9	6.35±4.85
No or mild depression	8.73±1.17	66	15.2
Moderate depression	11.97±1.42	118	27.2
Moderate depression or greater	17.20±1.20	199	45.8
Major depression	24.18±4.39	51	11.8

Abbreviations: STSS, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale; GAD-7, The 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale; PHQ-9, The 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire.

Table 2 Emergency and Intensive Care Nurses’ Stress (STSS) Scores According to Demographic Characteristics

Characteristic	Number (n=434)	Percent	STSS Score	t/F	P
Gender				−1.672	0.095
Male	35	8.1	13.29±12.69
Female	399	91.9	17.10±12.95
Age (years)				2.147	0.094
<25	103	23.7	15.69±12.44
25~<30	146	33.6	17.55±13.95
30~<40	156	35.9	17.74±12.53
>40	29	6.7	11.79±10.82
Educational level				0.483	0.617
Junior college and below	56	12.9	16.21±12.59
Undergraduate course	366	84.3	16.99±13.03
Master’s degree or above	12	2.8	13.50±12.95
Job title				0.370	0.691
Nurse	274	63.1	16.90±13.50
Supervisor nurse	146	33.6	16.87±12.07
Associate chief nurse and above	14	3.2	13.86±11.41
Marital status				1.087	0.338
Single	183	42.2	17.39±13.20
Married	243	56.0	16.17±12.83
Divorce	8	1.8	21.88±10.66
Number of children				2.924	0.055
None	216	49.8	17.27±13.17
One	152	35.0	14.99±11.54
Two or more	66	15.2	19.35±14.87
Years of service (years)				1.117	0.342
<1	54	12.4	13.80±12.00
1~<5	111	25.6	17.39±12.99
5~<10	124	28.6	17.00±13.42
>10	145	33.4	17.27±12.85
Average sleep per day in the past week (hours)				5.262	0.001**
<6	79	18.2	20.39±12.56
6~<8	337	77.6	15.80±12.89
8~<10	16	3.7	16.69±11.57
>10	2	0.5	41.50±0.71
Average working hours per day in the last week (hours)				2.065	0.128
6~<8	175	40.3	15.39±12.68
8~<10	237	54.6	17.53±12.69
>10	22	5.1	19.95±16.96
Number of night shifts in the last month				3.908	0.021*
<2	107	24.7	14.80±12.38
2~<6	223	51.4	16.42±13.37
>6	104	24.0	12.25±12.25
Average number of Grade I or critically ill patients per day in the past week				1.967	0.141
0~<2	115	26.5	16.67±13.36
2~<4	159	36.6	15.40±12.29
≥4	160	36.9	18.26±13.22
Have you or your family experienced any major changes in the past month? (such as divorce, death of a loved one, serious illness, etc.)				0.602	0.547
Yes	13	3.0	18.92±16.30
No	421	97.0	16.72±12.86

Notes:*p<0.05; **p<0.01.

Abbreviation: STSS, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale.

Table 3 Results of Correlation Analysis Between EIS, PHQ-9 and GAD-7 and STSS

Pearson Correlation Coefficient; r
	STSS	EIS	PHQ-9	GAD-7
STSS	1
EIS	−0.111^b	1
PHQ-9	0.824^a	−0.153^a	1
GAD-7	0.776^a	−0.071^b	0.833^a	1

Notes: ^aExpression P<0.05. ^bExpression P<0.01.

Abbreviations: STSS, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale; EIS, Emotional Intelligence Scale; PHQ-9, The 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire; GAD-7, The 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale.

Table 4 Independent Variables Entered into the Regression Analysis

Variable	Categorization
Average sleep time over the past week	<6 =1; 6~<8 =2; 8~<10 =3; >10 =4
Number of night shifts in the last month	<2=1; 2~<6 =2; >6 =3
EIS	Original value entry
PHQ-9	Original value entry
GAD-7	Original value entry

Abbreviations: EIS, Emotional Intelligence Scale; PHQ-9, The 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire; GAD-7, The 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale.

Table 5 Results of the Multivariate Linear Regression Analysis of STS

Independent Variable	B	SE	β	t	P	VIF
Constant	0.570	2.413		0.236	0.813
Average hours of sleep over the past week	−0.256	0.728	−0.009	−0.352	0.725	1.013
Number of night shifts in the last month	0.823	0.490	0.044	1.681	0.093	1.018
EIS	−0.002	−0.014	−0.004	−0.156	0.876	1.039
PHQ-9	1.537	0.575	0.575	11.985	0.000	3.367
GAD-7	0.917	0.292	0.292	6.148	0.000	3.311

Notes: R²=0.708, Adjust R²=0.704, F=207.104, P<0.01.

Abbreviations: B, Partial Regression Coefficient; SE, Standard Error; β, Standard Regression Coefficient.