Sociodemografía y estrés en enfermeras cuidadoras de pacientes crónicos

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic diseases are presently a public health problem on the rise. Objective: To describe the socio-demographic characteristics of and the stressing factors affecting the professional nurses. Methods: Descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional study of 105 nurses who care for chronically-ill patients in health care institutions located in Santa Marta. The socio-demographic characterization instrument and the nursing stress scale were both used. The statistical package called IBM SPSS Statistics version 21.0 served to process information by using summary statistics. Results: The age of 45 % of nurses ranged 31 to 40 years; women predominated with 88 % of participants; 47 % was hired on a fixed term contract and 24 % on an unspecified term and most of the interviewed participants said that work relations caused moderate tension. Conclusions: The stress affecting the nursing professionals, who care for chronically-ill patients, is related to personal and working factors and to direct care of patients. © 2019 Revista Cubana de Enfermería.