Perceived Stress and Anxiety of Healthcare Providers Before and After a Hospital Accreditation Program in Ahvaz

Background: Evaluation and accreditation of hospitals have essential roles in improving the quality, safety, and effectiveness of healthcare services. Nevertheless, this process may cause stress and anxiety among hospital staff. This study aims to determine and compare the level of anxiety and perceived stress of employees before and after the accreditation program in Ahvaz private hospitals. Methods: This was a quantitative, observational, and longitudinal research. A total of 456 employees of Ahvaz private hospitals were recruited by convenience sampling. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) were used to measure the level of anxiety and stress among hospital employees one month before and one month after the implementation of the hospital accreditation program. The data were analyzed in SPSS 22 using descriptive statistics and inferential statistical tests, such as  paired t-test and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. The the significance level was set at P <0.05.    Results: The findings showed a significant difference between perceived stress and anxiety before and after the implementation of the accreditation program (p<0.05). There was a significant relationship between the employees’ perceived stress levels  and their age, gender, and work experience. The state-trait anxiety of the subjects also was significantly associated with their sex, work experience, and organizational position (p<0.05). Conclusion: Although the accreditation program usually leads to improvement of the quality of health care, but the employees experienced more stress and anxiety before the implementation of this program than after its completion, which can have negative effects on the quality of care. Therefore, policymakers and managers should pay great attention to planning for the prevention of stress and anxiety among healthcare providers during the implementation of the accreditation program.