The Relationship of Professional Self-Concept and Occupational Stress Nurses Working in Intensive Care Units: A Correlation Study

Nurses working in intensive cares unit are regularly "affected" by stressors in the workplace, professional self-concept is part of the care structure and affects the performance of the nurse and helps nurses in various roles to deal with Overcoming stressful working conditions to have better care of patients. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the relationship between professional self-concept and Occupational stress of nurses working in intensive care units in teaching hospitals in Tehran.

This study is a descriptive-correlational study. In 2020, it was performed on 126 nurses working in the intensive care unit in Tehran. Data collection tools included a demographic questionnaire, the Nurse Self-Concept Questionnaire (NSCQ) and the standardized Job Stress Scale.

Results showed that the total mean score of professional self-concept in pediatric nurses was 216.56±35.92 and the total mean score of occupational stress in nurses Working in Intensive Care Units was 39.09±4.79.The highest score were respectively related to dimensions of care (39.42±6.28) and communication (39.06±5.89) and the mean scores in other dimensions were also moderate. Moreover, there was a negative linear correlation between occupational stress and professional self-concept.

According to the results of the present study, Occupational stress decreases with increasing the professional self-concept of nurses in intensive care units. Therefore, it requires the attention of as many officials as possible in this regard.