Perceived job stress, job satisfaction, and psychological symptoms in critical care nursing

This study tested the relationships among perceived job stress, job satisfaction, and psychological symptoms of critical care nurses. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to a sample of 180 critical care nurses from eight hospitals. The results supported the hypotheses that higher levels of perceived job stress are related to lower levels of job satisfaction (r = -.24, p = .001) and to higher levels of psychological symptoms (r = .33, p = .000). These effects remained even when years of experience in nursing and shift were controlled. Item analysis, however, showed that four of the five top-ranking stressors were not related to the outcome measures. A distinction between positive and negative stressors is proposed to explain the pattern of results.