Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate stress response and coping of psychiatric nurses. The data were collected by self-reported questionnaire, stress response scale and multi-dimensional coping scale and analyzed t-test and ANOVA, etc. The subjects were 150 nurses who worked at the psychiatric unit in the university hospital or mental hospital. The overall stress response of the psychiatric nurses were low; however, the nurse who were young, single, and working at university hospital were sensitive to stress response. Among the subscales, the score of 'frustration' was highest and that of 'aggression' was lowest. And the psychiatric nurses mainly used the effective problem solving coping for stress and nurses' coping were enhanced with the increase of age, education and career levels. 'emotional pacification' got the highest score among the subscales. Therefore, the development of stress management program considering personal characteristics was needed for the psychiatric nurses. (Korean J Str Res 2007;15:35∼42)

• Keywords: Stress, Stress response, Coping, Psychiatric nurse