Personal wellbeing and stress coping strategies among nurses working at the departments of anesthesiology and intensive care

Aim. To investigate the personal wellbeing of nurses in relation to selected variables. Then to explore whether personal wellbeing has any impact on preference for stress coping strategies.

Material and methods. The sample consisted of 509 nurses working at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Medicine. We used the Personal Wellbeing Index – Adult (PWI – A) scale and coping strategies (Brief COPE) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the methods of descriptive and inductive statistics.

Results. Subjective perception of personal wellbeing was assessed at the score 60-70% (60.85; SD±12.47). The research revealed that age and marital status had no significant impact on wellbeing in contrast to the length of work experience and education level. The lowest scores of personal wellbeing among nurses were detected in connection with their concerns regarding their future security. Nurses utilized both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies. The study pinpointed the connection between coping strategies and personal wellbeing, in particular, in the domain of satisfaction with personal relationships and satisfaction with community connectedness.

Conclusions. Monitoring the personal wellbeing of nurses and utilizing stress coping strategies proved to be important, because these may have an impact on the work performance of nurses, personal safety, and quality of health work experiences they provide.