Occupational Stress: A Concept Analysis with Implications for Immigrant Workers’ Mental Health in the United States

BACKGROUND. Occupational stress is a phenomenon affecting people worldwide. Investigating occupational stress among immigrant worker populations will unravel some of the intricacies of this condition and its psychological effects on this population. AIM. This paper conceptually examined occupational stress within the context of immigrant workers’ mental health and offer an operational definition to aid nurse researchers, educators, and practitioners in assessing and managing patients and developing culturally appropriate interventions for this population. DESIGN. Walker and Avant’s eight-step concept analysis is used as an organizing framework. DATA SOURCE. MEDLINE, CINAHL, OVID, PubMed, and APA Psych Info. REVIEW METHODS. Keywords job stress, immigrant work stress, occupational stress scale, immigrant work-related stress, and mental health were used. The search yielded 142 articles; 17 were selected based on the effect of work stress on mental health. RESULTS. This analysis found that occupational stress can be attributed to communication problems, alienation, discrimination, and barriers to work-life balance can cause negative consequences among immigrants. An operational definition is also provided. CONCLUSION. There is a growing need to examine closely and differentiate between occupational and acculturative stress to navigate a more profound understanding of how these conditions negatively complement each other.