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Over the past two decades, Taylor (1983; Taylor & Brown, 1988) has explored the tendency of individuals to develop positive illusions in coping with stressful, or traumatic events. These illusions consist of unrealistic positive self evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism. According to Taylor, illusions are important in accomplishing several tasks associated with successful adaptation, namely, search for meaning, regaining a sense of mastery, and restoring self-esteem through processes of social comparison. The purpose of the study was threefold: (a) to explore the construct of positive illusions (PI), (b) to explore employees' use of PI in coping with a stressful work event, and (c) to discover how PI, temporal distance, level of perceived stress, and a priming manipulation affect the type and frequency of inferences made while responding to items taken from a coping inventory. / The study was conducted in two phases. In Phase I, 209 nurses responded to a questionnaire which identified their level of PI, perceptions of occupational climate, and job satisfaction. They were also asked to describe a stressful work situation, and their appraisals and coping strategies used to manage the event. Results demonstrated that the PI construct for this population was best identified by enhanced self-perception, high dispositional optimism, and low internal locus of control. PI were associated with high self-efficacy for resolving the stressful event, appraisals of challenge, positive reappraisal and self-controlling coping, and the nonuse of escape-avoidance coping. / In Phase II, 36 nurses "high" and "low" in PI were assigned to two priming conditions. Nurses participated in a think-aloud procedure during which time they rated 16 coping items in relation to their previously identified work event and gave reasons for their ratings. After protocol analysis, results demonstrated that, (a) the type of prime used affected the consistency of recall even after controlling for temporal distance, and (b) positive illusions, prime, and time interact to produce significantly different patterns of self-statements and contextual inferences for the four groups. The results demonstrate that measures which rely on the recall of coping strategies need to be treated with considerable caution.

This study advances current explanations of stress in nursing. Research reports have documented a broad range of stressors experienced by nurses. This study was motivated by the scarce agreement across studies regarding how these stressors affect nurses and how they are managed by nurses. Virtually all studies of stress in nursing have been based exclusively on self-report data. As well, no studies have been documented regarding the enrichments of nursing that may serve to offset the effects of stress among nurses. A phenomenological method was used in this study in order to obtain rich descriptions of nurses' experience of stress and enrichment within their workplace. Twelve nurses were recruited, six from an intensive care unit and six from a medical unit, in a university-teaching general hospital. These nurses were observed while working on their units and then subsequently interviewed. The principal sources of stress reported were "conflict with the physicians," "complex patient care situations," and "shortstaffing." The coping strategies employed to manage these were "drawing on support" and "stressor-specific strategies." The principal sources of enrichment observed were "the patient" and "the team." A central developmental phenomenon was uncovered that described the nurses' overall attempts to manage their work stress, which has been named "striving to care." The informants' early career was characterized by reports of self-sacrifice, followed later by reports of disenchantment, which sometimes led to a discovery of "relational mutuality." This process resembles the psychological development of women described by Carol Gilligan. Implications for counselling research and practice are outlined in relation to the experience of nurses. These are also related to the broader counselling literature that addresses issues in the work of women and female-dominated occupations.

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Burnout levels have been found to be high among nurses in both public and private hospitals in South Africa. Burnout is defined within the human services as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with people in some capacity. High levels of burnout have been linked to nurses’ intention to leave the profession, which places additional strain on an already struggling public health system characterised by a shortage of nurses in South Africa. The primary aim of the present cross-sectional correlational study was to determine the proportion of the variance in burnout among nurses accounted for by the linear combination of certain demographic characteristics and occupational stress factors. Secondary aims were to determine the relationship between such factors and burnout levels and to determine the average level of burnout and occupational stress factors reported. A convenience sample of 110 nurses was recruited from a public hospital located in the Western Cape. An analytical survey design for the collection of quantitative data was used. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that workload, interpersonal conflict at work, job status, organisational constraints, and HIV/AIDS stigma by association significantly predicted burnout levels. The linear combination of these variables accounted for 38% of the variance in emotional exhaustion, 32% of the variance in depersonalisation, and 12% of the variance in personal accomplishment. Death and dying-related stress and age did not predict burnout levels. Age was also the only predictor variable not significantly associated with burnout levels. Although burnout levels were not found to be high on average, 34% of the sample reported high levels of emotional exhaustion. A high average level of workload was also reported. It is recommended that future research should focus on the development and evaluation of interventions to ameliorate burnout among South African nurses. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hoë vlakke van uitbranding is bevind onder verpleegkundiges in beide openbare en private hospitale in Suid-Afrika. Uitbranding word binne die menslike dienste gedefinieer as 'n sindroom van emosionele uitputting, depersonalisasie en verminderde persoonlike vervulling wat kan voorkom onder individue wat werk met mense in een of ander hoedanigheid. Hoë vlakke van uitbranding is gekoppel aan verpleegkundiges se voorneme om die professie te verlaat, wat bykomende druk plaas op 'n reeds sukkelende openbare gesondheidstelsel gekenmerk deur 'n tekort aan verpleegkundiges in Suid-Afrika. Die primêre doel van die huidige deursnee- korrelasionele studie was om te bepaal hoeveel van die variansie in uitbranding onder verpleegkundiges voorspel word deur die lineêre kombinasie van sekere demografiese eienskappe en beroepstresfaktore. Sekondêre doelwitte was om die verhouding tussen sodanige faktore en uitbrandingsvlakke te bepaal en om die gemiddelde vlak van uitbranding en beroepstresfaktore soos gerapporteer te bepaal. ’n Gerieflikheidsteekproef van 110 verpleegkundiges is gewerf uit 'n openbare hospitaal geleë in die Wes-Kaap. 'n Analitiese opname-ontwerp vir die insameling van kwantitatiewe data is gebruik. Die resultate van hiërargiese meervoudige regressie-ontledings het aangedui dat werkslading, interpersoonlike konflik by die werk, werkstatus, organisatoriese beperkinge , en MIV/VIGS stigma deur assosiasie uitbrandingsvlakke beduidend voorspel het. Die lineêre kombinasie van hierdie veranderlikes was verantwoordelik vir 38% van die variansie in emosionele uitputting, 32% van die variansie in depersonalisasie, en 12% van die variansie in persoonlike vervulling. Dood en sterfte-verwante stres en ouderdom het nie uitbrandingsvlakke voorspel nie. Ouderdom was ook die enigste veranderlike wat nie beduidend geassosieer was met uitbrandingsvlakke nie. Alhoewel dit bevind is dat gemiddelde vlakke van uitbranding nie hoog is nie, het 34% van die steekproef hoë vlakke van emosionele uitputting gerapporteer. 'n Hoë gemiddelde vlak van werkslading is ook aangemeld. Dit word aanbeveel dat toekomstige navorsing toegespits behoort te word op die ontwikkeling en evaluering van ingrypings om uitbranding onder Suid-Afrikaanse verpleegkundiges aan te spreek.

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Nurses comprise the majority of health care service providers and function as an integral part of the services rendered by the health care system in South Africa. There are however, frequent expressions of concern about their working conditions and circumstances. The health care system in South Africa faces difficulties in terms of resources and service provision, with nurses themselves sometimes being criticised for rendering less than adequate services (Khoza, Du Toit & Roos, 2010). Healthcare sector strikes have also been a feature of recent times, influenced by poor salaries, deterioration of academic facilities, poor working conditions in the public sector and the unfortunate conditions facing patients at public health facilities (Dhai, Etheredge, Voster & Veriava, 2011). The nursing care-relationship, however, requires qualities of empathy, compassion, ethical practice and commitment and these demands and contradictions may lead to burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary trauma (Holdt, 2006). The study therefore explored the perceptions of nurses about their role, the quality of the health care services which they provide, their perceptions on nurse/patient relationships; and their perceptions of both problems and strengths or protective factors in their nursing role. Using a qualitative approach, the study included twenty nurses working in a large public hospital in Gauteng. Purposive sampling was used to select participants from various wards. Data was collected through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews, in order to enable participants to reflect on the meanings of their experiences and the perceptions they attach to these experiences. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze data. The main findings were that nurses perceive their occupational stress arising from shortage of staff and limited and inadequate equipment. This resulted in fatigue, and a high rate of absenteeism. Nurses in this hospital reported that they experience trauma due to the nature of their work with little visible and accessible formal debriefings, trauma counseling and Employee Wellness Programmes in place to assist them with stress management for traumatic experiences and other work related problems. Working conditions are perceived as unfavorable and unsafe, exposing them to health hazards, while simultaneously having to deal with frustrated patients and relatives.

This study investigates levels and sources of stress, coping, and spiritual wellbeing of a sample of nurses. It also examines the relationship between these \ ariables. The sample is drawn from three public hospitals. The Nursing Stress Scale (NSS) measures the sources and levels of stress while the revised Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) measures coping. The Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (SWBS) measures the spirituality of the sample. The study found that nurses are moderately affected by all the stressors measured by the NSS. It also found that nurses use emotion as well as problem-focused coping. Spiritual wellbeing was found to be high and may explain why nurses experience moderate stress levels. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.