Work-Overload and Work-place Stress on Hospital Staff in Ugep-Urban of Yakurr Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

Work-overload in hospital settings has contributed to poor work performance and poor job satisfaction. Selye’s Theory of Systematic Stress and Person-Environment Fit Theoretical Model were used to design a cross sectional descriptive study to determine the relationship between work-overload and work-place stress among hospital staff. A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire and an interview guide were used to collect data from 198 staff in 11 hospitals in Yakurr. Data were coded and analyzed using SPSS version 20 and results were presented using descriptive statistics. Results show 151 (76.3%) female and 47 (23.7%) male staff. However, 34 (72.3%) males and 119 (78.8%) females affirmed that they ‘very often’ feel stressed resulting from work-overload. Women are also more likely to be vocal about stress than men and better at applying coping strategies that work (55.6%) when compared to males (19.1%). The Chi-square (X²) analysis, testing the relation between work-overload and work-place stress among hospital staff, was significant at 0.05 with calculated X²=8.505. There was a significant relationship between work-overload and work-place stress at critical X²=7.82.  Result of hypothesis tested showed that there is a statistically significant difference between work-overload and increase in work stress on hospital staff. Following the results and findings of the study, it is recommended that work-place stress among hospital staff can be reduced and managed by considering and maintaining a balance between the following variables: (i) the task requirement (patient influx, proportion of ailments, etc) and staff ability (technical-no-how, skills, etc), and (ii) staff ability (technical-no-how, skills, etc), needs, expectations and satisfaction with resources provided (both human and material).

Keywords: Work-overload, work stress, hospital staff, Presenteeism, Key Informant Interview.