Impact of sense of coherence and work values perception on stress and self-reported health of midwives.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the research was to explore how sense of coherence (SOC) and work values (WVs) impact on stress and perceived health of midwives. Sense of coherence, by definition, reflects a person's view of life and capacity to respond to stressful situations. A further goal was to evaluate the mediating effect of WVs between stress and health. DESIGN: A cross sectional, correlational design was used. SETTING: Participants were randomly selected from 13 hospitals across Hungary. PARTICIPANTS: The final sample included 228 midwives. METHODS: Main measures included Sense of Coherence Questionnaire, stress subscale from the Demand-Control-Support scale, Super's Work Values Inventory and Subjective Health Test developed by the authors. Statistical analyses determined correlation coefficients, difference by independent t-test, and linear regression. FINDINGS: Participants reported high level of stress, showed average SOC and subjective health. The most preferred work values were altruism (Mean = 12.40), economic returns (Mean = 12.11) and supervisory relations (Mean = 11.99). SOC and health were positively (r = 0.47, p < 0.001), while SOC and stress were negatively associated (r = -0.36, p < 0.001). WVs indirectly mediated the relationship between health and stress (r = -0.55, p < 0.001). Midwives who worked less than 5 years in practice did not differ on health, stress, WVs and SOC from those who had been working longer. Going from worst to best perceived personal health increased intention to stay in midwifery by 32% in the linear regression model. KEY CONCLUSIONS: In this study we documented relatively greater levels of stress and average levels of health and SOC among midwives. This paper confirmed that SOC had a positive impact on stress and health specifically for midwives. Uniquely, work values indirectly influenced the relationship between stress and health. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Improving SOC and WVs advance the health of midwives which will reduce the probability of leaving the profession.