Date of Degree

5-2008

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program

Education

Advisor

Judith E. Beauford

Advisor

Absael Antelo

Advisor

Dianna Tison

Advisor

Timothy Henrich

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among work-related stress, health status, and physical activity participation of the nurses in teaching hospitals in Taipei, Taiwan. A quantitiative research design was used in this study. Participants were 420 female nurses systematically selected from 5 teaching hospitals. The participants were asked to complete a survey package including 4 instruments (Nurse Stress Scale (NSS), SF- 36 Health Survey, Stage of Exercise Scale (SOES), Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall Questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire. The results showed that among the 7 factors of nursing stress, work load was rated the highest by the participants. The result of MANOVA showed a relationship between age groups and levels of job-related stress. The nurses under 20 years old reported more stress than those who were over 21 years old. The nurse participants had evidenced negative correlation between nursing stress and nurse's physical (r = -.251) and mental (r = -.30) health status. This result showed that higher levels of nursing stress related to lower levels of mental and physical health. Logistic Regression showed that health was predicted by job related stress in nursing. The current study showed that physical activity was positively correlated with both physical and mental components of nurses' health. Correlation statistics result showed that there was a positive relationship between physical activity and physical (r = .10) and mental (r = .12) health status. The result of MANOVA confirmed that the participants who had not participated in exercise during the 6-month period experienced lower physical and mental health than those who had participated in exercise and physical activity in the same period. Higher levels of physical activity participation were associated with lower levels of nursing stress. The result of the standard regression in this study indicated that the activity level of the 7 Days Physical Activity contributed a negative relationship (fi = - .199) to prediction of nursing stress scores. Nurses participated in higher level of physical activity related to lower level of stress.

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