Margaret Topf

Personality Hardiness, Work-Related Stress, and Health in Hospital Nurses

Personality hardiness is a set of beliefs about oneself and the world one lives in. Hardier persons take control of their lives, believe that commitment to goals will result in positive outcomes, and perceive daily stressors as challenges. Hardiness has been linked with less stress and fewer health problems among various occupational groups. This study found that among 237 hospital nurses, work-related stress and emotional exhaustion were associated with greater health problems in the form of anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints. Hardier nurses reported less work-related stress, less emotional exhaustion, and less anxiety, depression, and somatization. This article discusses considerations for strengthening future studies concerned with the relationships between personality hardiness, work-related stress, and health in nurses.

Noise-induced Stress in Hospital Patients: Coping and Nonauditory Health Outcomes

This study found that, for 150 postoperative male patients, degree of objective noise, intrinsic sensitivity of the person to noise, and noise-induced stress were positively related to coping, in the form of exercised control over noise (correlations ranged from r = .207 to r = .468, P less than .01 for all cases). Hierarchical multiple regression confirmed these results. Furthermore, greater sensitivity of the person to noise was positively correlated with ability to cope, regardless of the objective level of noise. Patients who were randomly assigned to an experimental group, where they received instructions for control over noise, showed no difference in coping ability than a control group. There was a lack of support for several hypotheses concerned with the effects of noise-induced stress and coping on health, where stress was measured by self-reports of recovery and average time-out-of-bed in minutes. The meaning of these results is discussed in terms of stress theory.

Stress Effects of Personal Control over Hospital Noise

Hospital critical care unit (CCU) sounds, instruction in personal control over noise, and stress were studied in 105 female volunteers attempting to sleep overnight in a simulated hospital environment. Subjects were randomly assigned to three groups--instruction in personal control over noise, no instruction in personal control over noise, or a quiet condition. The two noise conditions heard audiotaped recorded playback of CCU nighttime sounds. The subjects with instruction in personal control received directions for using a sound conditioner to block out unwanted sounds. This intervention failed to result in less stress. The results of group comparisons provided strong support for a causal relationship between CCU sounds and greater subjective stress (p less than .000) but not for physiological stress measured by urinary epinephrine. As predicted, scores for sensitivity of the person to noise were positively correlated with scores for noise-induced subjective stress (r = .226, p less than .05). Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that CCU sound levels independently accounted for 54% (p less than .001) and sensitivity to noise for 5% (p less than .01) of the variance in subjective stress.

Teaching interpersonal skills: a model for facilitating optimal interpersonal relations.

This article draws upon the results of a series of studies involving observations of interviews involving psychiatric patients and their friends, and between psychiatric patients and nurses. A two-dimensional structure of interpersonal behavior is described. Three principles of effective interpersonal relations are detailed, including interpersonal complementarity, interpersonal versatility, and interpersonal influence. Research results that indicate how psychiatric patients have trouble exercising these principles are reported. A three-phased assessment, intervention, and reassessment approach to facilitating interpersonal skills in patients is detailed. A counselor-teacher approach to the treatment of psychiatric patients is recommended.