The Effects of Stress Inoculation Training on Coping Strategies among  Midwives in Primary Health-care Centers

Effective coping with stress is the main component of interpersonal communication. It helps people overcome their conflicts and problems in their interpersonal and social relations.

This study sought to examine the effects of stress inoculation training (SIT) on coping strategies among midwives in primary health‑care centers.

In this two‑group, quasi‑experimental study, eighty midwives were randomly selected from health‑care centers in Zahedan, Iran, and were randomly allocated to an intervention and a control group. The study intervention was an SIT program offered in two 4‑h workshops weekly held in 2 consecutive weeks. Participants in both groups responded to the Coping Responses Inventory (CRI) before, immediately after, and 1 month after the intervention. Data were analyzed using the independent‑sample t and the Chi‑square tests as well as the repeated‑measures analysis of variance.

The mean score of coping strategies statistically significantly increased in the intervention group from 36.20 ± 7.50 at pretest to 47.22 ± 9.97 1 month after the intervention (P < 0.001). One month after the intervention, there were significant between‑group differences in the CRI respecting the mean scores of coping strategies and all its subscales (P < 0.05), except for the problem‑focused coping subscale (P = 0.06).

SIT can be used to improve midwives’ coping with stress.