Prevalence of Job Stress in Nurses Working in Iranian Hospitals: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis and Meta- Regression Study

Introduction: One of the most common psychiatric disorders in nurses is job stress. Regarding the inconsistency of the studies conducted in nurses working in Iran, the present structured review and meta- analysis study was conducted to determine the prevalence of job stress in nurses working in Iranian hospitals. Materials and Methods: The present study is a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted during 2001-2017. Articles related to job stress were obtained by searching SID, MEDLINE (PubMed), Science direct, and Google Scholar databases, and data were analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. Results: Having investigated 17 studies, the overall prevalence of Job stress in nurses working in Iranian hospitals was obtained 60% (48.1% - 70.7%: 95% confidence), meta-regression test was conducted to investigate the heterogeneity of meta-analysis results. It was reported that increasing sample size decreases the prevalence of Job stress (P <0.05). Conclusion: Regarding the high prevalence of job stress among nurses working in Iranian hospitals, health policymakers have to take effective measures to remove and reduce the stress causes in nurses to reduce the prevalence of stress in nurses and enhance work efficiency.