Sources and Effects of Stress on Work Performance, and Coping Strategies among Nurses at University of Cape Coast Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana (Published)
Stress is part of our everyday life and affects all aspects of our activities. In professions, where encountering hundreds of people is a routine could be very stressful. This is the nature of the nursing profession, with its attendant effects on the physical and psychological wellbeing of the nurse. This study set out to find the sources and effects of stress on work performance among nurses at the University of Cape Coast Hospital, and the coping strategies they adopt. Questionnaire was used to solicit data from the respondents. Using the multi-stage sampling technique, fifty nine nurses were sampled for the study. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated, and answered and tested respectively. Independent t-tests, Analysis of Variance, and means were used in analyzing the data collected. No statistically significant differences were found between the ages of nurses and the type of stress experienced, by gender with respect to how they coping strategies toward stress, and among the various ranks of nurses and the effect of stress on their performance. It was concluded that, nurses in the University of Cape Coast Hospital were aware of the sources of stress among nurses, aware of the effects of stress on their performance, and had devised their strategies for coping with stress.It was therefore recommended that management of the Directorate of University Health Services (UCC) organizes seminars, workshops, forum, among others on incidence of stress and stress management strategies for the nurses. This would help the nurses to be abreast with stress coping strategies thereby alleviating stress on them. It was also recommended that counsellors were brought on to put in techniques that would assist nurses who are going through stressful conditions, which are likely to affect their performance on the work.
Keywords: Cape Coast, Coast Hospital, Coping, Ghana, Nurses University of Cape, Sources and Effects, Strategies., Stress, Work Performance
Correlates of Coping with the Challenges of Incarceration among Nigerian Prison Inmates (Published)
This paper investigated the correlates of coping with the challenges of incarceration among Nigerian prison inmates. The study was carried out in Port Harcourt Prison, Rivers State, Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of 2,997 inmates, of Port Harcourt Prison while the sample was 250 inmates who were composed through stratified random sampling technique from the population. Relevant data for testing the five null hypotheses formulated for the study were gathered through indirect administration of copies of “Correlates of Coping with Challenges of Incarceration Questionnaire (CCCIQ)” on the sample. The questionnaire was developed by the researchers’. Its reliability co-efficient which was ascertained through the test retest method within an interval of two weeks was 0.78. Statistical analysis was carried out with t-test of independent mean scores and the results show that sex, years of incarceration, educational level, nature of incarceration and marital status have significant influence on coping with the challenges of incarceration among prison inmates. These results were discussed and some recommendations also made. One of the recommendations is that programmes and policies that will increase the ability of prison inmates to cope with their challenges should be put in place by the government and concerned non-governmental organizations.
Keywords: Challenges, Coping, Incarceration, Inmates, Nigerian Prison