NURSES’ PERCEIVED STRESS AND QUALITY OF LIFE ASSOCIATED WITH DEPLOYMENT TO RURAL / URBAN HEALTH FACILITIES IN ESWATINI
Abstract
Nurse Professionals are at the forefront of health service provision and play an important role in care of the people and communities. Deployment has been reported to contribute towards work-related stress and poor Quality of Life among nurses in Eswatini. The purpose of the study was to investigate the nurse’s perceived stress and Quality of Life associated with being deployed to rural or urban health facilities in Eswatini. A quantitative, descriptive-correlational design was utilized. Out of 1554 nurses practicing in the public sector, 233 were selected using the multistage-cluster sampling method. Data were collected using adapted questionnaires from the Expanded Nursing Stress Scale and World Health Organization Quality of Life– BREF. Most participants were females (79.9%, n = 173). The mean age was 37.1 years with a standard deviation of 8.3 years. Most participants were deployed in settings of their preference. The overall perceived stress among the participants was rated moderate (2.33), as well as their Quality of Life (64.25%). The data did not support any relationship between overall perceived stress nor Quality of Life and deployment setting. Participants perceived workload as more stressful due to inadequate staff. Moreover, the participants regarded the physical domain as good while environmental domain was rated as poor. Nurses deployed to rural health facilities did not perceive more stress nor poorer Quality of Life compared to their urban counterparts. The study recommends establishment of wellness programmes and that nurse managers should allow subordinates time away for full engagement in wellness sessions to reduce stress, improve Quality of Life among nurses and ultimately improve patients’ outcomes.
KEY WORDS: Deployment, Nurses, Perceived Stress, Quality of Life. __________________________
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Mathunjwa-Dlamini, T.R. Email: tmathunj@uniswa.sz
