A Correlational Study between Hardiness and the Perceived Stress among Nurse Managers
Abstract
The nurse manager/administrator role is a vital yet stressful position. Increased stress can cause such adverse effects as illness, burnout, decreased productivity, and increased absenteeism. The way a person perceives the stress determines how their body will react. Over the last 30 years, a moderate amount of research has been done to evaluate how hardiness protects against stress. Hardiness is a trait that protects against stress by changing the way a person perceives stress and teaches effective problem solving and coping skills. A "high hardy" person has a better ability at handling stressful situations. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between hardiness and stress levels among nurse managers. The sample group of 49 nurse administrators used The Hardiness Scale (HS) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) surveys to evaluate their hardiness levels and amount of perceived stress. The results from the study showed a negative correlation between the hardiness levels and the nurse manager's perceived stress. The overall hardiness scores showed a weak, negative correlation and the groups that the highest HS/lowest PSS and lowest HS/highest PSS had stronger negative correlations.