Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Simone Salandy

Abstract

Nursing staff working in long-term care settings experience high levels of occupational stress related to many factors that can lead to poor outcomes for the nursing staff and the residents. In 2020, the World Health Organization declared severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as COVID-19, a pandemic which over the course of 3 years, has added an additional source of work-related stress for long-term care nursing staff. This quantitative cross-sectional study was guided by the job demand-control-support model to explore perceived stress and nursing stress among nursing staff working in the long-term care setting in Georgia and Virginia. This study examined the extent to which perceived stress among long-term care nursing staff is associated with nursing stress, nursing discipline (position title), nursing unit, and demographic factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a quantitative approach, primary data were collected from nursing staff using an online survey (n = 670). Multiple linear regression was used for hypothesis testing of the research questions. The results showed that nursing stress scores above 10 are the strongest predictor of perceived stress. The results also showed that neither nursing unit nor nursing discipline is significantly related to perceived stress and that nursing stress is a stronger predictor of perceived stress as it relates to demographic characteristics. Implications for positive social change include developing and implementing training material specific to public health emergencies such as a pandemic so long-term care nursing staff can learn and develop appropriate responses with fewer experiences of occupational stress and burnout.

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