Humor and stress of nurses who caregivers people with end of life

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Nurses are one of the most exposed professional group to stressors, namely those who provide end of life care due to their daily contact with death, bad emotions and suffer. There is scientific evidence that humor may constitute an incisive coping strategy in the management of occupational stress that can be used by professionals for their own benefit. The analysis of the relationship between humor and the stress level requires the exploitation of characteristics like the magnitude and orientation thereof using appropriate tools of evaluation.

OBJECTIVES

Establish the relationship between Humor and Stress in the workplace of nurses who provide end of life care. Define the nature of this relationship in terms of its magnitude and orientation.

METHODS

Correlational Study. Data collection began with an online form – containing a social-demographic survey and both Portuguese translations of Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (José, 2008) and Nurse Stress Index (Fernandes, 1996) – to 61 nurses who care for end of life patients. Data analysis was conducted using the statistical software SPSS, version 20.

RESULTS

The results of this study demonstrates that individuals experience stress in several situations linked to work environment and reveal a strong acceptance and appreciation of humor.

CONCLUSIONS

An increase in the stress level led to a growth in sense of humor. Therefore, it can be seen that nurses who care for end of life patient’s appeal to sense of humor as a strategy to manage stressful situations that they face in their everyday labor.