Investigating the relationship between job stress, workload and oxidative stress in nurses

Abstract

Objectives. Occupational stress and workload are common risk factors among nurses that increase absenteeism, reduce the quality and quantity of patient care, increase care costs and increase the patient safety risk. The relation between these risk factors and oxidative stress levels has not been clearly defined. Methods. This study was conducted with 258 participants (126 nurses as the case group and 132 healthy adults as the control group). Information was collected using a demographic questionnaire, the nurses’ occupational stress scale and the NASA task load index workload questionnaire. Blood samples were taken from the participants and then the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were measured in the serum samples. Independent t tests and one-way analysis of variance were used for statistical analysis. Results. SOD and TAC were significantly higher and MDA was significantly lower among the case group compared to the control group. TAC levels significantly decreased with increased stress. MDA levels showed negative associations with stress and workload. Nurses experience high levels of occupational stress and workload. Conclusion. Biomarkers such as SOD, TAC and MDA are the most important predictors of work stress and overwork in this study.

Keywords:

• antioxidant activity
• job stress
• nurses
• workload

Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely appreciate all those people who participated and cooperated in this study as well as Shahroud University of Medical Sciences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical consideration

Ethical approval was obtained from the Medical Ethics Committee of Shahroud University of Medical Sciences in Shahroud, Iran (ethics code IR.SHMU.REC.1396.34). All participants gave written consent to participate in the study. Data were kept confidential.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Shahroud University of Medical Sciences [grant number: 9623].