Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Nov:32:18-25.
doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2016.04.003. Epub 2016 Apr 9.

Reducing nurses' stress: A randomized controlled trial of a web-based stress management program for nurses

Rebekah K Hersch  1 , Royer F Cook  2 , Diane K Deitz  2 , Seth Kaplan  3 , Daniel Hughes  4 , Mary Ann Friesen  5 , Maria Vezina  6
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Reducing nurses' stress: A randomized controlled trial of a web-based stress management program for nurses

Rebekah K Hersch et al. Appl Nurs Res. 2016 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Nursing is a notoriously high-stress occupation - emotionally taxing and physically draining, with a high incidence of burnout. In addition to the damaging effects of stress on nurses' health and well being, stress is also a major contributor to attrition and widespread shortages in the nursing profession. Although there exist promising in-person interventions for addressing the problem of stress among nurses, the experience of our group across multiple projects in hospitals has indicated that the schedules and workloads of nurses can pose problems for implementing in-person interventions, and that web-based interventions might be ideally suited to addressing the high levels of stress among nurses.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the web-based BREATHE: Stress Management for Nurses program.

Methods: The randomized controlled trial was conducted with 104 nurses in five hospitals in Virginia and one hospital in New York. The primary outcome measure was perceived nursing-related stress. Secondary measures included symptoms of distress, coping, work limitations, job satisfaction, use of substances to relieve stress, alcohol consumption, and understanding depression and anxiety.

Results: Program group participants experienced significantly greater reductions than the control group on the full Nursing Stress Scale, and six of the seven subscales. No other significant results were found. Moderator analysis found that nurses with greater experience benefitted more.

Conclusion: Using a web-based program holds tremendous promise for providing nurses with the tools they need to address nursing related stress.

Keywords: Nurses' stress; Stress management; Web-based intervention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The first two authors are owners in the research organization that owns the BREATHE: Stress Management for Nurses program which was tested in this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consort Diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aiken LH, Clarke SP, Sloane DM, Sochalski J, Silber JH. Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2002;288:1987–1993. - PubMed
    1. Bamber MR. CBT for occupational stress in health professionals. Introducing a schema-based approach. New York: Routledge; 2006.
    1. Billings DW, Cook RF, Hendrickson A, Dove D. A web-based approach to managing stress and mood disorders in the workforce. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2008;50:960–968. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brunero S, Cowan D, Fairbrother G. Reducing emotional distress in nurses using cognitive behavioral therapy: A preliminary program evaluation. Journal of Nursing Science. 2008;5:109–115.
    1. Burke RJ, Greenglass ER. Hospital restructuring and nursing staff well-being: The role of perceived hospital and union support. Anxiety, Stress & Coping: An International Journal. 2001;14(1):14–21.

Publication types