Magister Educationis - MEd / The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of stress by teachers in the Metropole North, Circuit 6 of the Western Cape, South Africa, The study investigated factors causing teachers to experience stress as well as the levels or extent of their stress, to determine whether teacher stress due to learners, conditions of service, workload, resources for teaching and school-community relations could explain the variance in total stress experienced by teachers and to determine if there is no statistically significant difference in sources of stress based on the biographical variables (age, gender, marital status and tenure) amongst educators in primary schools.

Background: Occupational stress in nursing is common worldwide; with rates of 9.20%-68.0% of nurses suffering from stress being reported in the worldwide literature. This thesis reports an investigation into stress among hospital nurses in Gaza Strip-Palestine. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of occupational stress among hospital nurses in Gaza-Palestine and explore possible causal occupational stressors. Method: A quantitative survey design was employed, with a self-administered questionnaire pack being the data collection technique. Data were collected on psychological distress (GHQ-12), depression (SLC-D), sources of stress (NSS), trauma (IES-R) and demographic variables. Open questions were used to enable participants to describe their experiences of stressful events and enable the researcher to collect more in-depth information regarding some aspects of the stress domains. Data were analysed by SPSS using a variety of descriptive and inferential statistical methods: T-test, one way ANOVA and logistic regression were employed.Sample: The study population is the entire cohort of nurses who were working in the 16 hospitals in Gaza (1801 nurses; 985 males) during the period August 2009 through March 2010. Because of difficulties in access, only 1500 were able to receive questionnaire packs and 1133 were completed and returned (response rate=75.53%). Results: The results of this study revealed a high prevalence of psychological distress (63%, GHQ-12 cut-off=6), depression (59.7%, SCL-D cut-off=1.5) and trauma (69.4%, IES-R cut-off=35). The most severe occupational stressors were: ‘Not enough staff to adequately cover the unit’, ‘Lack of drugs and equipments required for nursing care’ and ‘Unpredictable staffing and scheduling’ respectively. The most frequent occupational stressors were: ‘Not enough staff to adequately cover the unit’, ‘Watching a patient suffer’ and ‘Lack of drugs and equipments required for nursing care’ respectively. As subscales, ‘Workload’ and ‘Death and dying’ were the most frequent and severe occupational stressors.Psychological distress was significantly associated with gender, age, experience, night shifts and extra-work. Depression was significantly associated with gender, hospital type, age, night shifts, experience and marital status. Severity of occupational stressors was significantly associated with age, night shifts, specialisation and qualifications. Frequency of occupational stressors was significantly associated with hospital type, experience specialisation and night shifts. Finally, trauma was significantly associated with hospital type, experience and night shifts. The predictors of psychological distress caseness (GHQ-12) were: depression caseness, uncertainty about treatment (severity), experience and qualifications of nurses. Protective factors were: extra work and experience of more than 15 years. Conclusion: Being a nurse in Gaza hospitals appears to be a stressful experience. More attention should be focused to develop an effective programme to reduce stress levels among Palestinian nurses in Gaza.

Thesis advisor: Lisa A. Goodman / Recent research suggests that half or more of today’s domestic violence (DV) advocates are survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) or other forms of abuse, consistent with the survivor-led early stages of the DV movement. Advocates who are themselves survivors (survivor-advocates) are at risk of experiencing vicarious trauma and other negative outcomes in response to their challenging work. Emerging research has also identified the possibility of deriving personal growth and healing from the work of advocacy, which bolster survivor-advocates against the stressors in their work. However, the processes by which survivor-advocates navigate their work and cope with its challenges are poorly understood. To date, only one qualitative study has asked survivor-advocates about their experiences. This study began illustrating some of the ways that survivor-advocates approach and experience their work; however, it is vital that we develop a richer understanding of how survivor-advocates experience their work as both healing and harmful, in order to maintain the sustainability and effectiveness of the services they provide. This study used grounded theory methodology to explore how survivor-advocates apply their survivorship to their work, and how their work influenced their well-being and recovery. The theoretical model that emerged was anchored by a central process called bringing my whole self to work, which participants described as consisting of four interrelated components: 1) constructing a personal narrative about how their identity connects to their work, 2) applying those connections to shape their work in numerous ways, 3) experiencing healing as an outcome of the previous two components and 4) the organizational contexts that shaped the process through validating or invalidating the survivor identity. Successfully engaging in this process helped survivor-advocates feel a greater sense of connection and integrity to their survivor identity and work, as well as possibly enhanced well-being. This process suggests numerous ways for DV organizations to encourage and support survivor-advocates to engage more openly, meaningfully, and effectively in their work and points toward new directions in understanding vicarious trauma. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

The relationship between occupational stress and burnout was investigated through a meta-analysis of 81 studies and 364 correlations. Occupational stress was measured by role conflict, role ambiguity, workload, cumulative role stress, job specific stress/stressors, and work setting characteristics. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, 1981 and 1986 versions, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment components of burnout, measures of tedium, and the Staff Burnout Scale for Health Professionals. Thirty occupations in human and non-human service organizations throughout four publication periods were examined. Results indicated occupational stress strongly predicts burnout in non-human service organizations like industry and manufacturing as well as the human services. Job specific stressors most strongly predict burnout across organization types and occupation. Occupational stress predicts emotional exhaustion and depersonalization more than perceptions of reduced personal accomplishment. The findings support the use of transactional models of stress which consider occupational context as a precipitator of burnout, especially emotional exhaustion.

Background: Negative effects on health caused by work-related stress is widespread among nurses because of several factors, for example a high workload in combination with great responsibilities for patients' safety, health and wellbeing. In-patient care is an area where nurses experience particularly high demand and where the effects on patient safety also risk being especially severe, whereby it is not possible to ignore, it is of assence to explore what coping strategies are experienced as stress reducing. Aim:  The aim of this study was to describe nurses coping strategies to manage occupational stress in in-patient care. Methods: A qualitative literature review. Articles analysed using a thematic analysis method. Results: The findings are based on ten qualitative scientific articles. Three main themes were identified: Resoursces and support for managing stress, Attitudes for managing stress, Behavior and activity for managing stress. Conclusion: The authors of this study argue for the importance of combining implementation of education programs on stress-reduction with structural changes of outer conditions on a local as well as a global level.

Bakgrund: Det intensiva och påfrestande arbetet inom hälso- och sjukvården visade sig kunna leda till arbetsrelaterad stress. En hög arbetsbelastning, personalbrist och överbeläggningar var orsaker som kunde öka stressen hos sjuksköterskorna. Definitionen av stress kunde förklaras på flera olika sätt, yttre och inre krav var gemensamma faktorer som påverkade stressreaktionen. Långvarig stress visade sig kunna leda till negativa effekter såsom hjärt- och kärlsjukdomar, utmattningssyndrom och störd sömnfunktion. Hanteringsstrategier eller så kallad coping innefattar tre huvudstrategier; problemfokuserad, emotionsfokuserad och meningsskapande. Dessa strategier kunde vara användbara för hantering av stress. För att kunna motverka stress i arbetet var Antonovskys teori: en känsla av sammanhang KASAM, användbar genom att öka motståndskraften för stress. Syfte: Beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av arbetsrelaterad stress. Metod: En deskriptiv litteraturstudie. Databassökningarna utfördes i Medline via Pubmed där totalt 11 artiklar inkluderades. Huvudresultat: I litteraturstudiens resultat framkom olika hanteringsstrategier för att hantera arbetsrelaterad stress. En god kommunikation, mentorskap på arbetsplatsen, självkännedom och uppväxt, återhämtning samt prioriteringar i arbetet var komponenter som visade sig vara behjälpliga. Slutsats: Resultatet i föreliggande litteraturstudie visade att hanteringsstrategier som sjuksköterskor använde sig av kunde generera i minskad stress på arbetet. Hanteringsstrategierna kan vara förslag som sjuksköterskor kan ta del av och vara användbara i sitt arbete för att hantera arbetsrelaterad stress. / Background: The intensive and stressful work in healthcare proved to be able to lead to work-related stress. A high workload, staff shortages and overcrowding were reasons that could increase the stress of the nurses. The definition of stress could be explained in several different ways, external and internal requirements were common factors that affected the stress response. Prolonged stress has been shown to lead to adverse effects such as cardiovascular disease, fatigue syndrome and impaired sleep function. Management strategies or so-called coping include three main strategies; problem-focused, emotion-focused and meaningful coping. These strategies could be useful for managing stress. In order to counteract stress at work, Antonovsky's theory: was a sense of context KASAM, useful by increasing the resistance to stress. Aim: To describe nurses' experiences of work-related stress. Method: A descriptive literature. The database searches were performed in Medline via Pubmed where a total of 11 articles were included. Main results: The results of the literature study revealed different management strategies for dealing with work-related stress. Good communication, mentorship in the workplace, self-awareness and childhood, recovery and priorities at work were components that proved to be helpful. Conclusion: The results of the present literature study showed that management strategies used by nurses could generate in reduced stress at work. The management strategies can be suggestions that nurses can take part of and be useful in their work to manage work-related stress.

Background: Stress is a person's biological response to pressure; it may be positive or negative depending on the amount of stress. Too much stress may result in physical or psychological sickness. Nurses in Sweden have laws and constitutions to follow as well as a description of competence. Despite this approximately 1200 patients die due to healthcare related injuries each year, and an additional 100 000 patients experience an adverse event when receiving hospitalized care. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe nurses´ experiences of stress at work. Method: The method literature review was chosen, and eleven scientific articles were analyzed. Result: The analysis resulted in two themes: Challenging relationships and lack of knowledge and Shortcomings and strains in the workplace. Conclusions: This study contributed to increased understanding of nurses' experience of stress and its effect on patient safety. Stress also effects quality of care and is related to the work environment, co-workers as well as managers. To secure nurses' ability to care for patients the head of a department and hospital management must provide them with proper support and resources. They must also work for an environment that allows the nurses to share knowledge and help each other continue their professional development. / En människa upplever negativ stress när den hamnar i en situation som den inte klarar av att hantera. Negativ stress kan orsaka huvudvärk, extrem utmattning och magproblem. Detta skiljer sig från positiv stress som istället kan ge energi och motivation. Tidigare studier har funnit att stress kan leda till försämrad livskvalité och vårdkvalité. Studiens resultat bygger på studier där såväl kvalitativ som kvantitativ metod använts, så kallad litteraturöversikt. Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av stress i arbetet. Elva vetenskapliga artiklar har analyserats, tolkats och sammanställts till ett nytt resultat. I resultatet framkommer att sjuksköterskor upplever att dåliga relationer till chefer, kollegor, patienter och närstående kan orsaka stress. Sjuksköterskor som anser sig ha brist på erfarenhet eller kunskap kan uppleva stress, även kollegor som anses ha brist på erfarenhet och kunskap orsakar stress. Den dåliga relationen till chefer grundar sig ofta på bristande stöd och gehör från chefen. I resultatet framkommer att miljörisker i arbetet såsom infektionsrisker, arbetsskador och dödsfall av patienter orsakar stress. Hierarki upplevs som en stor orsak till stress enligt sjuksköterskor. Hierarkin kan visa sig som att läkaren på arbetsplatsen anses ha mer makt än sjuksköterskan, vilket kan leda till att sjuksköterskan upplever ett tvång till att äventyra patientsäkerheten för att undvika konflikter med läkare och kollegor. Det framkommer även att sjuksköterskor inte vågar belysa problem då de är rädda för att bli mobbade eller utfrysta av kollegor. Resultatet är betydelsefullt att uppmärksamma, för att minska de negativa konsekvenser som drabbar sjuksköterskor och förbättra patientsäkerheten. Resultatet ökar medvetenheten kring problemet, vilket kan skapa mer engagemang till att förbättra villkoren för sjuksköterskor.

Background New graduate nurses face many workplace-related challenges in their first year of practice, which contributes to physical and mental strains. As a result, high levels of occupational stress are experienced among newly graduated nurses, leading them to doubt their willingness to continue in nursing. Furthermore, occupational stress is proven to interfere with both personal and professional risk factors, making it an important subject to highlight. Aim The overall purpose of this study was to describe newly graduated nurses’ experience of occupational stress during their first working-year. Method This literature study is based on twelve qualitative scientific articles, which has been analysed and assessed through a five-step model. Results The most frequently described state was feeling unprepared or unable to meet the various requirements of their profession. Challenges were associated with a knowledge gap between theory and practice, an overwhelming reality, leadership, responsibilities and difficulties adapting. There were also connections between the prevalence of long-term stress and early career burnout or turnover. Four main themes emerged from the results; A demanding work environment; To be on your own; Inability to relax; After adversity comes success. Conclusion New graduate nurses experience a mismatch between the external expectations of them as nurses and their own perception of their ability to perform accordingly. As they develop into professionals in their field, much support is needed. This increases the chances of them succeeding in fighting through their stressful challenges and remain sustainably in their positions.

The prevalence and importance of humor in the workplace has been well-documented over the past several decades, with research consistently revealing its significant impact on employee well-being and effectiveness. During this same time period, organizations worldwide have begun embracing team-based work designs as a means for achieving success. As a result, the degree to which employees are engaging in both frequent and intensive interactions with their coworkers is rapidly increasing. Despite these trends, little research has been dedicated to investigating the ways in which employees’ well-being and effectiveness are influenced by the humor of their coworkers or the ways in which employees’ own humor interacts with that of their coworkers to determine these outcomes. The current study answered the need for such research by investigating the impact of coworker-employee humor interactions on employee strain and performance using a sample of undergraduate-level students engaged in a high-fidelity work simulation. In the current study, coworker humor was experimentally manipulated by pairing each participant with a study confederate who was trained to act as either a nonhumorous coworker or a humorous coworker throughout the duration of the work simulation. Results of a pilot study provided empirical evidence supporting the validity of this manipulation; showing that participants’ paired with a humorous confederate coworker rated their coworker significantly higher on positive humor, but no different on negative humor, than participants’ paired with a non-humorous confederate coworker. Based on theory and prior findings drawn from multiple streams of science, it was expected that positive coworker humor would have a significant impact on employees’ strain and performance, but that the nature of its influence on these outcomes would be contingent upon iv employees’ own dispositional humor. Specifically, it was hypothesized that employees paired with humorous coworkers would experience a lesser degree of perceived, affective, cognitive, and physical strain than employees paired with non-humorous coworkers if their own sense of humor was high but a greater degree of perceived, affective, cognitive, and physical strain than employees paired with non-humorous coworkers if their own sense of humor was low. In addition, it was expected that employees paired with humorous coworkers would demonstrate a higher level of interpersonal and task performance than employees paired with non-humorous coworkers if their own sense of humor was high but a lower level of interpersonal and task performance than employees paired with non-humorous coworkers if their own sense of humor was low. Finally, it was hypothesized that employees’ strain would partially mediate the effects of coworker-employee humor interactions on employee performance. In support of these hypotheses, analyses revealed that several indicators of employees’ perceived, affective, cognitive, and physical strain were in fact each significantly influenced by interactions between employees’ own humor and that of their coworkers. Specifically, high sense of humor employees who worked with a humorous coworker experienced a lesser degree of perceived, affective, cognitive, and physical strain than did those who worked with a nonhumorous coworker. This was evidenced by their lower self-reported perceived strain (an indicator of perceived strain), higher state-level positive affect and lower state-level negative affect (indicators of affective strain), higher anagram task performance and lower perceived task difficulty (indicators of cognitive strain), as well as their lower systolic blood pressure and lower state-level somatic anxiety (indicators of physical strain). In contrast, low sense of humor employees who worked with a humorous coworker experienced a greater degree of perceived, affective, cognitive, and physical strain than did those who worked with a non-humorous v coworker. This was evidenced by their higher self-reported perceived strain, lower state-level positive affect and higher state-level negative affect, lower anagram task performance and higher perceived task difficulty, as well as their higher systolic blood pressure and higher state-level somatic anxiety. Consistent with expectations, results revealed that the degree to which employees experienced job strain typically varied based on the degree to which there was a match between employee sense of humor and coworker positive humor levels. Similar levels of coworker and employee humor generally resulted in relatively low levels of employee strain whereas dissimilar levels of coworker and employee humor most often resulted in relatively high levels of employee strain. Contrary to expectations, however, coworkers’ positive humor and employees’ sense of humor did not interact to predict employees’ interpersonal or task performance. Instead, positive coworker humor had a significant positive main effect on both forms of employee performance. Although these findings are consistent with the study hypotheses in that positive coworker humor was expected to enhance high sense of humor employees’ performance, they run counter to the expectation that positive coworker humor would hinder low sense of humor employees’ performance. Because the interaction between coworker humor and employee humor was not a significant predictor of either type of employee performance, analyses were not conducted to test for mediated moderation. Findings from the current study offer a number of contributions to organizational science and, in addition, hold several implications for practice. Specifically, these results have relevance for and greatly expand the workplace humor, individual differences, PE fit, occupational health, and workgroup/team composition literatures. In addition, results contribute to the literature by elucidating the need for future research dedicated to exploring the direct and interactive effects of coworker characteristics, including humor, on employee well-being and effectiveness. Finally, vi results of this study serve to inform researchers and practitioners in matters related to several critical human resource functions, including matters in personnel selection, placement, and training, as well as in workgroup/team composition.

The primary purposes of this study were (a) to investigate the relationship between counseling interns' site supervisors' experience and training in supervision and their own levels of ego development and (b) to investigate the relationship between supervisors' levels of ego development and the ego functioning and occupational stress of their intern-supervisees. The theoretical framework for this investigation included cognitive developmental models of supervision (e.g., Blocher, 1983; Stoltenberg, 1981), ego development (Loevinger, 1976, 1997) and the Person-Environment Fit theory of occupational stress (French, Rogers, & Cobb, 1974). The findings of this study contribute to an understanding of (a) the levels of ego development and post-degree clinical supervision experiences of internship site supervisors in different areas of counseling specialty; (b) the relationship between social-cognitive developmental levels and levels of perceived occupational stress in counseling interns; and (c) cognitive development theory and counseling supervision. Ninety-six counseling internship students in three master's level counseling programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation for Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) in Central Florida as well as 58 (73% response rate) of their internship site supervisors participated in the study. The site supervisors completed the Supervisors Experience Questionnaire (Walter, 2008) and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test--Form 81 (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996). The participating counseling internship students completed a demographics questionnaire, the WUSCT--Form 81, and the Occupational Stress Inventory--Revised (OSI-R; Osipow, 1998). The statistical procedures used to analyze the data included chi-square, ANOVA, simultaneous multiple regression, and MANOVA procedures. The primary research hypotheses for the study were (1) that formal training in supervision and participation in post-graduate clinical supervision would predict supervisor ego development and (2) that supervisor ego development would predict supervisee ego development and occupational stress levels; these were not supported for these data. However, the results identified statistically significant relationships between supervisor participation in post-graduate clinical supervision and area of counseling specialty, with school counselor supervisors less likely to have participated in supervision than other supervisors. Additionally, the findings identified a negative correlation between interns' levels of perceived occupational stress and their ego development levels (14.6% of the variance explained), as well as a negative correlation between interns' levels of satisfaction with their internship site supervision and their levels of occupational stress (40% of the variance explained). The data from this investigation suggested that school counseling interns experienced higher levels of occupational stress due to occupational roles and lower levels of personal resources than interns in other counseling tracks, with the track accounting for 25.6% of the variance in the occupational stress levels. Implications for counseling supervisors and counselor educators are presented, along with areas for future investigation.