The Effect of Health Messages on Job Stress of Nurses Working in Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Background: Because of its nature, nursing is one of the stressful jobs. Abundant stressful factors existing in this job cause the occurrence of physical and mental disorders in nurses. Objectives: Therefore, the aim of this research was to determine the effect of health messages on job stress of nurses working in ICU (intensive care unit). Methods: This empirical study was performed in ICUs of hospitals in Babol city in 2015 2016. The research population included all employed and eligible nurses working in ICUs of hospitals affiliated to Babol University of Medical sciences. After homogenization, the subjects were randomly divided into two groups of 40 named intervention and control groups. The tools for data collection included a demographic form and OSIPOW job stress questionnaire, which were completed by both groups. Then, for the nurses in the intervention group, 2 messages per week were sent regularly with a constant interval for three months. The OSIPOW questionnaire was completed by both groups one day and one month after the completion of the intervention. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v 20 software. Shapiro Wilk test was used to examine normal distribution of continuous quantitative variables. The data were evaluated using descriptive and inferential statistics (Mann Whitney and Freedman tests). Significance level was set at P < 0.05. Results: The nurses participating in this study were homogenously distributed in two groups in terms of job stress levels before performing the intervention. The mean scores of job stress in nurses working in ICU were 242.05 ± 22.72 in the intervention group and 241.80 ± 24.22 in the control group (P = 0.068). Also, the mean scores of job stress in nurses in the control group before the intervention, one day, and one month after the completion of the intervention were not significantly different from each other (P < 0.001), While the mean scores of job stress in nurses in the intervention group one day after the completion of the intervention meaningfully decreased compared to the control group. Therefore, message-based procedure decreased job stress in nurses working in ICUs (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The findings of this research showed that job stress level in nurses of the case group reduced after the intervention. Therefore, sending health messages can cause a decrease in job stress among nurses working in intensive care units.