Occupational Stress Risk Assessment: Assessing the Impact of Health Promotion Lifestyle and Perceived Nature Contact on Nursing Health and Wellness

The purpose of the study was to perform a quantitative occupational stress risk assessment (OSRA) to evaluate the impact of health promotion (HP) lifestyle and perceived nature contact on the consequences of perceived stress from exposure to nursing stress risk factors. Perceived stress is defined as the employee’s personal interpretation of his or her work circumstance and any discrepancy between workplace demands (stressors) and individual capacities (resources). Registered nurses (RNs) in patient care settings are prone to high levels of perceived stress, which can cause errors in clinical care giving. High perceived stress is a consequence of risk factors from a nurse’s daily work routine including: workload, death and dying, inadequate preparation for role, staff support, uncertainty concerning treatment, communication with physicians, and communication with other nurses. Mitigating perceived stress improves nursing job performance, job satisfaction, and overall employee health, while reducing mental fatigue, absenteeism, and burnout. Methods performed included: Aim 1) a systematic literature and meta-analysis to establish benchmarks for perceived stress in nursing professionals for comparison of United States (US) and International healthcare settings; Aim 2) a cross-sectional study using a 125-item survey instrument administered online to an RN study population to evaluate relationships between perceived stress, HP lifestyle, and perceived nature contact; and Aim 3) a quantitative OSRA to rank nursing stress risk factors and examine differences by gender, ethnicity, and race. Results were: Aim 1) Perceived Stress Scale 14-item (PSS14) value for International nursing studies was 25.41 (95% CI 21.1 to 29.7), while US PSS14 nursing studies yielded a value of 23.8 (95% CI 19.8 to 27.7). Aim 2) the present study found Southern California RNs (n=161) had the same perceived stress (m = 22.8, 7.06 SD, p=0.082) as other US nursing professionals. RN perceived stress sc