Relationship between Sleep Quality and Job Stress in nurses during the outbreak of covid_19

Nurses at the forefront were concerned about experiencing high levels of job stress due to their initiative and that of family members, lack of personal protection, and tolerance of protective cover during the Covid-19 outbreak. Tolerating this stress on a regular basis may lead to physical illness and reduced sleep quality. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between sleep quality and job stress of nurses in the Covid-19 outbreak.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 102 nurses working in Imam Sajjad (AS) Ramsar and Shahid Rajaei Tonekabon Hospitals were selected using an available sampling method. A questionnaire of Pittsburgh sleep quality and nurses' job stress was used to collect information. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 18 and Pearson correlation coefficient. The significance level was considered less than 0.05.

Based on the results, the average work experience of 102 nurses 27 (5.26%) males and 73 (71.6%) females was 15.14 ± 7.7 years. The mean total score of nurses' sleep quality was 15.5±8.7 (undesirable). The nurses' stress level was 82.16 ±18.98 (very high). The Pearson correlation test indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between sleep quality and job stress (P-value=0.001).

The results showed that the quality of nurses’ sleep was unfavorable which could be due to the job stress of nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic. Nursing managers need to help improve the physical and mental health of nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic by holding workshops on coping strategies and improving sleep quality.