Designing a Stress Management Model to Find Occupational Stressors in Hospital Staff

Objective: Occupational stress is one of the main problems in medical centers. It affects the physical and mental health of medical staff. This study aims to design a stress management model to find occupational stressors in hospital staff. Methods: This is a descriptive-correlational study that was conducted in 2021. The study population consists of 2046 employees (with permanent, temporary, or contractual employment) of teaching hospitals in Kashan, Iran, of whom 384 were randomly selected as the study samples. The data were collected by interviewing 15 participants and using a researcher-made questionnaire with acceptable validity and reliability. Descriptive statistics (such as frequency, percentage) and the inferential statistics including the structural equation modeling in smart PLS software were used to design and assess the conceptual model of the study. Results: Most of the participants were male and married aged 41-50 years with a bachelor’s degree. Based on the results, individual factors (70.4%), organizational factors (66.6%), and extra-organizational factors (40.7%) had an effect on creating occupational stress in the hospital staff. The use of stress management strategies was effective in reducing occupational stress by 54.9%. In the model, the occupational stress had 4 dimensions including individual factors with 14 components, organizational factors with 27 components, extra-organizational factors with 23 components, and stress management strategies with 36 components.  Conclusion: Considering the multiplicity of occupational stressors and their effects in reducing productivity and waste of organizational resources, the necessary conditions for managing occupational stress in hospital staff should be provided by hospital managers and officials in the health sector.