مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Occupational stress can be defined as a situation wherein job-related factors interact with an employee, changing his/her psychological and physiological condition in a way that the person is forced to deviate from normal functioning [1].

Work-related stress can be damaging to a person’s physical and mental health, while its’ high levels have been related/connected to high staff truancy and low levels of productivity. According to the American Institute of Stress, stress is a major factor in up to 80 % of all workrelated injuries and 40 % of workplace turnovers [2]. Nursing is perceived as a strenuous job with high and complicated demands. The high job demands and the combination of too much responsibility and too little authority have been identified as some of the primary sources of occupational stress amid nursing staff [3–۷].

Occupational stress may affect significantly nurse’s quality of life, and simultaneously reduce the quality of care. Caring is an interpersonal procedure defined by expert nursing, interpersonal sensitivity and intimate relationships, including positive communication and implementation of professional knowledge and skills [8]. Job related stress has as a result loss of compassion for patients and increased incidences of practice errors and therefore is unfavorably associated to quality of care [9]. Numerous studies show that it has a direct or indirect impact on the delivery of care and on patient results [10–۱۲].