Relationship between role strain and workplace support among staff nurses

Abstract

Nursing is an incredibly stressful career. From the moment nursing students start their education program to when they retire; they face difficult situations and stressors on a daily basis. In fact, stress and burnout affect 10-70% of nurses. Sources of stress can be the patients and cases they observe, time constraints to get work done, conflict with leadership or co-workers, or a feeling of lack of control in their work environment. Stress can lead to fatigue, exhaustion, and detachment from their work which may lead to patient safety concerns. Therefore, successful management of stress is essential to the well-being of not only the nurse, but patients as well. Role strain is one such stressor that has been found to be positively associated with work stress and job burnout. Furthermore, role strain has been found to decrease both job satisfaction and organizational commitment as bonding with the organization among correctional staff. Role strain is the perceived struggle in performing role-related duties and is a felt difficulty in fulfilling role obligations.