The associations with work stress, social support and overweight/obesity among hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Nurses with obesity will lead to health problems as well as their high turnover rate and low retention rate.

Objectives: This study explored the associations with female nurses’ work stress, social support and overweight/obesity, and tried to find the predictors of the female nurses’ overweight/obesity.

Methods: The study applied a cross-sectional and correlational design.

Findings: The results of this study showed that “regular exercise frequency lower than or equal to 2 days a week”, “rotating night shifts greater than or equal to 4 times a month”, “nursing working hours higher than 44 hours a week”, “high work stress”, and “low social support” were the main predictors of “overweight/ obesity”.

Conclusions: Conducting workshops were recommended to nurse managers to motivate female nurses’ exercise frequency, remind female nurses of keeping a healthy diet during night shifts, and provide female nurses with some relaxing skills to release their work stress.

Keywords:

• nurses
• obesity
• overweight
• social support
• work stress

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participating nurses in this study for their time and cooperation in completing the surveys.