Stressors, coping styles, and anxiety & depression in pediatric nurses with different lengths of service in six tertiary hospitals in Chengdu, China

BACKGROUND: The level of stress experienced by nurses is related to their length of service. In the current study, we investigated the potential correlations among stressors, coping styles, and anxiety and depression in pediatric nurses with different lengths of service in six tertiary hospitals in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. METHODS: Between January and June 2018, we enrolled 500 pediatric nurses from 6 tertiary hospitals in Chengdu using a convenience sampling method. A cross-sectional survey was carried out using the Chinese Nurses’ Occupational Stressor Scale (NOSS), the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), and Zung’s Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS). RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found in the average scores of NOSS and scores of various dimensions, SAS and SDS, and Simple Coping Style score among pediatric nurses with different lengths of service (all P<0.05). Nurses with 8–12 years of service had the highest average score for stressors. Anxiety and depression were both prevalent among nurses with 4–7 years of service. The average overall stress scores of nurses with different lengths of service were negatively correlated with positive coping style (P<0.05), were not significantly correlated with negative coping style (P>0.05), and were positively correlated with anxiety score and depression score (P<0.05). The positive coping style score showed negative correlations with anxiety score and depression score (both P<0.05). The negative coping style score was positively correlated with the scores for anxiety and depression (all P<0.05), except in nurses with 4–7 years of service, for whom the negative coping style score showed no significant correlation with the depression score. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric nurses with different lengths of service in tertiary hospitals in Chengdu experience different levels of workplace stress. Pediatric nurses with 4–7 and 8–12 years of service have higher levels of workplace stress and are more likely to experience anxiety and depression.