Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of stress on job
performance of psychiatric nurses in the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in Cape
Coast. Descriptive survey design was adapted for the study. A sample of 150
psychiatric nurses were selected from a population of 197 psychiatric nurses
using simple random sampling procedure. Data were collected using
questionnaire adapted from Weiman Occupational Stress Scale (WOSS). Data
were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study
discovered the genesis of stress among psychiatric nurses to be feeling unsafe
due to possible harm, threats and harassment from patients, difficulty
communicating with the mentally ill patients, working on holidays without
incentives, difficulty obtaining leave from in-charges to attend to family
emergencies and inadequate logistics and protective equipment. The study
revealed that the effects of stress included mild to severe headache, loss of
concentration, exhaustion, anger and overreaction, finding excuses and
absence from work and forgetfulness. Regarding the management of stress, the
results were clear that the respondents took a short break when they feel tired,
took few hours to sleep when they felt stressed and employed relaxation
techniques to reduce stress. In light of the discoveries, it was suggested that
the hospital authorities should structure the work schedules of psychiatric
nurses in such a way that the nurses can get intermittent periods of leave away
from work while at the same providing the logistics to make the work of
psychiatric nurses easy.
