DISTRESSED AND STRESS RESISTANT NURSES

Abstract

This study examines the relative contribution of personality, coping, and family support to adaptation to stress in nursing. The sample (N = 1,043, mean age = 33.8 years) were nurses from three large public hospitals in Singapore. The findings indicated that stress resistant nurses who adapted to high work stress with good mental health status as measured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) developed by Goldberg (1972) had a higher self-esteem and were more internal in locus of control than the distressed nurses who reported poor mental health status under high work stress. The use of negative emotion focused coping was less frequent among the stress-resistant nurses who also had greater supports from family relationships. Discriminant function analysis revealed that behavioral coping (e.g., enhancement of ability and physical health) had greater contribution to stress resistance than cognitive coping (e.g., acceptance of situations or change of perspectives). The findings were discussed with reference to the high level of performance demanded by nursing.