Stress management among health care professionals: Psychological methods and coping techniques.

Abstract

Stress among health care professionals and especially nurses is an important aspect that could influence the health and wellbeing of the nurses and the quality that they provide.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of psychological methods and coping techniques on the level of stress among health care professionals. The aim of the study is to reduce the level of stress among health care professionals. The research hypothesis – there will be a significant statistical difference in the stress level before and after practicing psychological methods and coping techniques. The research question - Do psychological methods and coping techniques help to reduce the level of stress among health care professionals?

Fourteen health care professionals took part in this experimental research. Participants were divided into two groups by using the method of randomization. Responders filled the questioners – Psychological Life Stress Scale by David Fontana - PLSS) and Psychological stress scale - PSM-25 (Lemyre, Tessier, Fillion, translated and adapted in Russian by Vodopyanova N.). For analyzing data, Student’s t-test for comparison 2 dependent samples has been chosen.

Experimental group became familiar and agreed to use Guided imagery (Visualization), Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation and Deep breathing techniques during 2 weeks.

The results showed that stress level among health care professionals is high and can be easily named as a problem. Statistical data found that the experimental group might have a significant lower level of professional and psychological stress after practicing these methods. However, due to limitations, the results obtained from the research part of this thesis are not trustworthy and cannot be generalized.

This study is aimed to health care professionals in general. We recommend to repeat the research on a bigger sample for confirming findings.