The Relationship between Job Stress and Occupational Empowerment of Nurses in Selected Military Hospitals of the Country

Due to the nature of job، nurses face different kinds of stressful factors that not only threaten the various aspects of their health، but also they may impact on their empowerment as well as the quality of performance. The present study was conducted to determine the level of occupational stress among military nurses and also to investigate its relationship with two indicators of occupational empowerment included clinical competencies and psychological empowerment.

In the present cross-sectional descriptive study، a sample of 126 nurses was participated from the selected military hospitals of the country. Data were collected with questionnaires for measuring job stress and occupational empowerment in two dimensions: clinical competencies and psychological empowerment. Demographic information was also gathered by questionnaire. The Data were analyzed using SPSS 17 and One-way ANOVA test.

The results show that 23. 1% of nurses reported low level، 49. 2% moderate and 27. 7% high level of stress. The comparison between three groups of nurses with low، moderate and high level of stress indicated that individuals with high stress significantly had lower score in Action aid (p= 0. 039)، Training and Guidance (p= 0. 007)، Management ability and Treatment aspects (p= 0. 001). In other words، high stress levels in nurses may decrease their nursing skills in the field of providing health care to patients and supportive services to co-workers، training for patient’s family and also their management roles. While no significant relation was found between Job stress، Diagnostic and Occupational and Organizational tasks as well as psychological empowerment.

Job stress is a recognized problem among healthcare workers particularly nurses which has been studied extently. In addition to several physical، mental and behavioral problems، stress is a factor that can prevent nurses from providing optimal clinical care and decrease their occupational competencies. As the current study indicate that job stress can lead to decrease in nurse’s occupational empowerment dimensions such as providing the caring، training، managing and treating services.