Cent Eur J Nurs Midw 2012, 3(1):326-334

Psychological strain and depressive symptomatology between nurses

Elena Gurková1,*, Slávka Macejková2
1 Department of Nursing, Jessenius Medical Faculty in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
2 GEDEON RICHTER Slovakia s.r.o., Bratislava, Slovakia

Aim: The study has a design of descriptive cross-sectional survey. The aim of this study was to investigate relationship between psychological load, depressive symptomatology and subjective well-being of nurses.

Methods: Sample of respondents consisted of 78 nurses from two public hospitals (Levoča and Spišská Nová Ves). To measure the psychological load was used the Meister questionnaire of neuro-psychological load. To measure the incidence of depression was used the screening tool Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ 9). To measure subjective well-being was used Personal Well-Being Index (PWI) for a healthy adult population.

Results: The results indicated that there is a significant correlation between psychological load, depressive symptomatology and subjective well-being of nurses. The higher frequency of depressive symptomatology was associated with higher level of psychological load and lower subjective well-being level. The depressive symptomatology has a significant relation with neuropsychological strain and subjective well-being. Important and at the same time alarming finding was that only 28% of nurses reported insignificant depressive symptomatology. According to PHQ 9 was present mild depression in up to 50% of nurses. Statistically significant correlations were identified between all three factors of Meister questionnaire, as well as his gross score and the PHQ 9. The strongest correlations were between Factor I (overload) a PHQ 9.

Conclusion: The results show that mainly aspects of work overload (time constraints, problems and conflicts, high accountability) can lead in nurses to more frequent survival of individual symptoms of depression (especially the fatigue and reduced interests). In further research we propose to focus on monitoring the relationship of three variables: depression, burnout and psychological load of nurses.

Keywords: depression, psychological load, subjective well-being, nurse

Published: March 30, 2012  Show citation

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Gurková E, Macejková S. Psychological strain and depressive symptomatology between nurses. Ošetřovatelství a porodní asistence. 2012;3(1):326-334.
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