ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study examines the mediating role of stress coping styles-problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping-on the relationship between work stress and psychological well-being in clinical nurses according to career experience. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used. Data were collected from February to March 2016. The study population was composed of 399 nurses working at two university hospitals with over 500 beds located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do in South Korea. Self-report questionnaires were administered to measure work stress (Work Stress Scale), stress coping styles (Korean version of The Ways of Coping Checklist Scale), and psychological well-being (Ryff's Psychological Well-being Scale). A multiple-group path analysis was performed using SPSS version 21.0. RESULTS: In the path model analysis (N = 399), work stress directly influenced psychological well-being. Both problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping were indirectly influenced in the relationship between work stress and psychological well-being. In the group of nurses with 3 years or less of career experience (n = 202), work stress was significantly related to psychological well-being. Only emotion-focused coping exerted a partial mediating effect on the relationship between work stress and psychological well-being. On the other hand, in the group of nurses with over 3 years of career experience (n = 197), work stress was not significantly related to psychological well-being. Both problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping exerted a full mediating effect on the relationship between work stress and psychological well-being. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study's path analysis displayed a distinct pathway in the relationships among work stress, stress coping styles, and psychological well-being between nurses with 3 years or less and nurses with over 3 years of experience. The intervention with decreasing work stress and emotion-focused coping could be effective for nurses with less career experience, whereas the intervention with focusing on improving emotion- and problem-focused coping could be effective for nurses with more career experience. The practical implications of the results suggest that nurses need different stress management programs according to their career experience, as the appropriate use of stress coping styles would improve the psychological well-being of nurses as influenced by their work stress.
