Work-related Stress and Coping Strategies of Perioperative Nurses in Government Hospitals: A Study from Southwestern Nigeria

Aim: This study assessed work-related stress and coping strategies among perioperative nurses in selected Government Hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted for this facility-based study, while a structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from 105 purposively selected perioperative nurses. Data were collected with aid of a structured questionnaire and were analysed using SPSS version 25 while descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present the data. Results: The results revealed that the majority (70%) of perioperative nurses experienced high levels of work-related stress. The major occupational stressors reported by the respondents were having too many surgical procedures in a day (73%); working in the same position for long periods (68%); and not having enough rest or breaks after each surgery (60%). More than half (65%) of the respondents adaptively cope with the stress by discontinuing the procedure once the stress aggravated their discomfort while 56% of the respondents claimed to cope with stress by avoiding stressors. Conclusion: This study concluded that perioperative nurses in Nigeria were highly stressed. Hence, efforts should be geared towards improving working conditions to relieve the stress experienced by this group of nurse specialists.