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International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
Published in: International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 6/2017

01-12-2017

A Daily Diary Approach to the Examination of Chronic Stress, Daily Hassles and Safety Perceptions in Hospital Nursing

Authors: Gemma Louch, Jane O’Hara, Peter Gardner, Daryl B. O’Connor

Published in: International Journal of Behavioral Medicine | Issue 6/2017

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Abstract

Purpose

Stress is a significant concern for individuals and organisations. Few studies have explored stress, burnout and patient safety in hospital nursing on a daily basis at the individual level. This study aimed to examine the effects of chronic stress and daily hassles on safety perceptions, the effect of chronic stress on daily hassles experienced and chronic stress as a potential moderator.

Method

Utilising a daily diary design, 83 UK hospital nurses completed three end-of-shift diaries, yielding 324 person days. Hassles, safety perceptions and workplace cognitive failure were measured daily, and a baseline questionnaire included a measure of chronic stress. Hierarchical multivariate linear modelling was used to analyse the data.

Results

Higher chronic stress was associated with more daily hassles, poorer perceptions of safety and being less able to practise safely, but not more workplace cognitive failure. Reporting more daily hassles was associated with poorer perceptions of safety, being less able to practise safely and more workplace cognitive failure. Chronic stress did not moderate daily associations. The hassles reported illustrate the wide-ranging hassles nurses experienced.

Conclusion

The findings demonstrate, in addition to chronic stress, the importance of daily hassles for nurses’ perceptions of safety and the hassles experienced by hospital nurses on a daily basis. Nurses perceive chronic stress and daily hassles to contribute to their perceptions of safety. Measuring the number of daily hassles experienced could proactively highlight when patient safety threats may arise, and as a result, interventions could usefully focus on the management of daily hassles.
Appendix
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Footnotes
1
39.8% of participants completed five diaries, 18.1% completed four diaries, 34.9% completed three diaries, and 7.2% completed two diaries; 83.6% of the diaries were completed on a weekday.
 
2
Cronbach’s alphas (α) we report are from our analyses.
 
3
Hassle categories were not mutually exclusive.
 
4
Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) for outcome variables: perceptions of patient safety .42, safe practitioner measure .23 and workplace cognitive failure .66
 
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Metadata
Title
A Daily Diary Approach to the Examination of Chronic Stress, Daily Hassles and Safety Perceptions in Hospital Nursing
Authors
Gemma Louch
Jane O’Hara
Peter Gardner
Daryl B. O’Connor
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine / Issue 6/2017
Print ISSN: 1070-5503
Electronic ISSN: 1532-7558
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-017-9655-2

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