Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate perceived stress type, physical responses of stress and happiness of nurses in Bachelor of Science in Nursing. This study was a cross-sectional survey and the participants were 272 registered nurses in state of Bachelor Nursing Program of an distance education university at five cities in Korea. The data were collected from September to November, 2013 and were analyzed by using the SPSS 21 program. The instruments of this study were Perceived Daily Life Stress Scale, Physical Symptoms Scale, and Happiness Scale etc. Facing task dimension of stress type was higher than interpersonal dimension of nurses. Economic problem, academic problem, future problems and values problems were higher sequentially among facing task stressors. Family relationships were the highest among interpersonal stressors. Headache related symptoms were the first highest and sleep related symptoms were the second highest among physical symptoms. Nurses in a little happiness were 41.2%, nurses in unhappy were 2.9% and nurse in neither this nor that were 15.8% of the participants. Perceived stress, physical symptoms, and happiness of nurses showed significant correlation. Perceived stress and happiness were significantly different among the classified groups according to their physical symptoms of nurses. Nurses should be careful of their physical symptoms and specific intervention programs for screening and management are needed to improve their health and happiness. (Korean J Str Res 2014;22:221∼230)

• Keywords: Distance education, Nurses, Stress, Happiness, Physical symptoms;