Determinants of Job Stress Among Nurse Educators in Departments of Nursing Science of Universities in South East Nigeria

Stress is part of our normal functioning and integral to life. However, when the elastic limit is reached, its presence instigates a negative effect that could be detrimental to the individual’s health, ability, and productivity. This cross-sectional survey is aimed at finding out the determinants of job stress among nurse educators working in the Departments of Nursing Science of Universities in South East Nigeria. A sample size of 176 nurse educators was purposefully recruited for the study. An adapted, modified and validated instrument was administered to the participants to elicit information based on the research objectives. The reliability of the instrument was established using the split-half method of Spearman’s correlation at a 0.01 level of significance which showed a strong relationship (r = 0.82). Data were collated and analysed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software, version 26. the results were presented in tables using percentage mean, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and chi-square were used to establish the relationship between the variables. The study findings showed that nurse educators experience job stress as a result of manpower shortage (82.95%), poor physical working environment (86.36%), and inadequate instructional materials (91.47%). There was a significant relationship between job stress and the job stress factors tested (shortage of manpower, physical working environment and inadequate instructional materials) with a p-value of < 0.001. It was concluded that shortage of manpower, physical working environment, and inadequate instructional materials were major causes of job stress among Nurse educators in South East, Nigeria. Manpower recruitment should be organised, the overall quality of the physical working environment should be improved, and adequate instructional materials be provided for the nurse educators.