Abstract:

The prevalence of occupational stress among nurses is an endemic problem. This study was undertaken on an academic journey to determine the current levels of occupational stress among nurses in referral hospitals in Botswana. The study used a cross-sectional design aimed at determining the prevalence of occupational stress among nurses in selected referral hospitals. The study was carried out in three referral hospitals, namely- Princess Marina hospital, Nyangabgwe referral hospital, and Sabrana psychiatric hospital. Purposive sampling was used to select the nurses as well as management with the required and relevant experiences. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to get responses from nurses and the management in referral hospitals. The data was sourced from different departments/ units in the referral hospitals. From a total of 98 study participants, 43.8 percent of nurses reported stressful irritable/angry at work. Less than one-third, 30.6% of respondents, reported that they were sometimes not able to sleep due to the fact they normally have to work in different departments/units in referral hospitals. Results from the study show that respondents are very often not coping with what they had to do and are not able to control important things (like work may be) in their lives, respectively statistically significant (p = 0.021< 0.05) and (p = 0.038 < 0.05. A significant percentage of respondents reported occupational stress that is influenced by environmental factors like working in different departments and pressure from work.

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