Testing The Model of the Relationship Between Coping Styles and Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy Beliefs with Health Professions Stress in Nurses

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesized model of structural relationships between coping styles and occupational coping self-efficacy with health professions stress among a group of nurses.

In this correlational study, 151 nurses working in the oncology departments of Tehran University of Medical Sciences responded to the Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy Scale for Nurses (Pisanti, Lombardo, Lucidi, Lazzari & Bertini, 2008), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-Short Version (Cohan, Jang & Stein, 2006) and the Health Professions Stress Inventory (Wolfgang, 1988). In this study, the structural equation modeling method was used to test the causal relationships in the hypothetical model.

The results showed that the relationship between task-based coping style and occupational coping self-efficacy with health professions stress was negative and significant, and the relationship between emotion-oriented and avoidance coping styles with health professions stress was positive and significant. In addition, the results showed that the hypothesized model had a good fit with the data and the variables of occupational coping self-efficacy and coping styles explained 37% of the variance of health professions stress.

The results of this study emphasize the need to apply psycho-educational interventions aimed at enriching the coping skills of people working in health-oriented professions.