Journal of Nursing and Health Studies

Work-related stress and coping strategies among HIV/AIDS health care providers

World Summit on Occupational Health and Public Safety
February 09-10, 2022 | Webinar

Huiru Tong

Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, China

ScientificTracks Abstracts: J Nurs Health Stud

Abstract

Work-related stress can negatively impact health care providers’ (HCPs) ability to provide care. We examined the sources of work-related stress experienced by HCPs who provided medical care for people living with HIV/AIDS, the impact of the stress on HCPs’ well-being and work performance and their coping methods. We conducted in-depth interviews with 46 HIV/AIDS HCPs in Guangxi, China. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and imported into NVivo V.11 for data management and data analysis using a thematic approach. We found that the key sources of stress at work included general work-related sources and HIV/ AIDS related sources, such as the complexity of HIV/ AIDS patients’ medical conditions, occupational exposure, HIV related stigma, and challenges with patients’ physical, mental, and social conditions. All stress was seen to have a substantial impact on the HCPs’ individual well-being, family and social life, and quality of care they provided. Furthermore, the analysis of the data revealed six general coping strategies: seeking social support, applying problem-solving strategies, adopting healthy lifestyle, developing self-compassion, using mindfulness-based stress reduction methods and avoidance and escaping. We recommended that government and health care facilities take measures to improve institutional culture and professional development for HIV/AIDS HCPs. More professional training schemes should be provided to strengthen HCPs’ competence, improve universal protection from occupational exposure, and reduce the stigma toward HIV/AIDS patients and their care providers. It is also imperative to increase institutional support and develop training programs to improve problem-solving skills, healthy lifestyle, and self-compassion among HIV/AIDS HCPs in China.

Biography

Huiru Tong, MSN, RN, is a faculty member and a chief nurse at Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine. Her research interests include nursing education, health promotion for medical professionals, and HIV prevention. Her expertise and passion in improving the health and well-being of the healthcare providers push her to do a series of quantitative and qualitative research on health promotion among health care providers. Her research covers workplace stress and coping methods, burnout, lower back pain, daily activities and social support, etc. Health awareness and effective stress reduction methods as well as organization care of humanity play an important role in health promotion among health care providers.