The mental health and well-being of nurses are critical issues in health care, particularly following the increased stressors introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses frequently experience burnout, stress, and emotional exhaustion due to systemic issues such as staffing shortages, heavy workloads, and limited access to mental health resources. These challenges not only affect nurses' well-being but also impact the quality of patient care. Organizational support plays a pivotal role in mitigating these issues, yet the lived experiences of nurses regarding such support remain underexplored.
This Study Aimed to Explore Nurses' Lived Experiences of Organizational Support and Its Impact on Their Mental Health Recovery, With a Focus on Identifying Actionable Strategies for Improvement.
A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to gain deep insights into nurses' experiences. Twenty nurses from various healthcare facilities in the Asir region, Saudi Arabia, were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns and themes.
Three main themes emerged: (1) Supportive Leadership, highlighting the critical role of empathetic and communicative leadership in fostering well-being; (2) Systemic Barriers, including staffing shortages, heavy workloads, and limited access to mental health resources; and (3) Workplace Wellness Culture, reflecting the influence of stigma, peer support, and the practicality of wellness programs on mental health recovery. These themes underscore the interconnected nature of leadership, systemic issues, and workplace culture in supporting nurses' mental health.
The findings suggest several actionable strategies, including leadership training programs to foster empathy and communication, policies to address systemic barriers, tailored and accessible wellness programs, and initiatives to reduce mental health stigma. These interventions are essential for creating supportive environments that prioritize nurses' well-being and enhance their ability to deliver high-quality care.
Building nursing process competency among beginner nurses is a pivotal need in contemporary, complex, fast-paced nursing practice. However, transitioning from the educational phase to practicing as a nurse can be a significant adjustment. New practitioners often experience a period of shock, which may present challenges in developing nurse competency. Fostering system thinking among those nurses could buffer the negative signs of transition shock and cultivate nursing process competencies at earlier times.
This study explores the relationship between transition shock and nursing process competency among early career nurses and investigates the moderating effect of system thinking on this relationship.
This cross-sectional correlational exploratory study was conducted at four large hospitals in Egypt. Data were collected from 393 nurses from the first of February 2024 to the end of April 2024 using the transition shock scale, the competency of nursing process questionnaire, and the system thinking scale. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the study variables.
A statistically significant negative correlation exists between transition shock, nursing process competency, and system thinking among early-career nurses. System thinking is positively associated with nursing process competency. System thinking positively moderates the relationship between transition shock and nursing process competency among early-career nurses. Transition shock and system thinking account for 23.9% of the variance in nursing process competency among early-career nurses.
Transition shock is an inevitable phenomenon among early-career nurses, negatively affecting their competency in the nursing process. System thinking buffers this adverse effect and significantly augments nursing process competency among this set of nurses. Predicting and mitigating transition shock among early-career nurses is pivotal in building nursing process competency. Nurse educators must develop curricula that cultivate system thinking skills among nursing students, which enables them to buffer transition shock after graduation.
Menopausal women often complain of a range of physical and psychological symptoms known as menopausal syndrome. These symptoms are associated with fluctuating hormone levels, sleep disturbances, and mood swings.
This study aimed to examine the efficacy of a program-based cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBT) for insomnia and depression among women experiencing menopause.
A randomized controlled trial of 88 women experiencing menopause was conducted in Egypt from June to September 2022 in outpatient clinics at Mansoura University Hospitals in Egypt. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group (45 women) and an intervention group (43 women). The intervention group received 7 weeks of CBT sessions. Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Beck Depression Inventory 2nd Edition (BDI-II) were administered before and after the intervention.
In the intervention group, there was a significant difference in scores of the subdomains of PSQI, including sleep efficiency, daytime dysfunction, subjective sleep quality, and sleep disturbance (t = 8.911, 11.77, 7.638, and 11.054, respectively), while no significant difference in domains of using sleep medication, sleep duration, and sleep latency. Significant improvements were observed between pre-and-post-intervention in the intervention group for the total scores of PSQI, ISI, and BDII-II (t = 12.711, 16.272, and 12.384, respectively), indicating a large effect size for the three studied variables (r = .81, .87, .8, respectively).
This study demonstrated the efficacy of group CBT for lowering insomnia and depression in women experiencing menopause. Thus, results indicated the need of considering prompt and appropriate interventions such as CBT as a safe treatment option to prevent the aggravation of sleep and emotional problems for menopausal women.
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05920460.
Stress and conflict in emergency departments are inevitable but can be managed. A supportive work environment is key to helping emergency care providers, especially nurses, constructively manage work-related stress and conflict.
The aim of this study was to assess the influence of supportive work environments on work-related stress and conflict management style among emergency care nurses.
A descriptive correlational research design was utilized. Data were collected from 221 staff nurses recruited from two university hospital emergency departments in Alexandria, Egypt. Three instruments were used: (1) perceived organizational support scale, (2) nurses' occupational stressors scale, and (3) conflict management style inventory.
There was a highly significant correlation between supportive work environments and work-related stress (p = .000) and a significant correlation between supportive work environments and conflict management style (p = .026). Supportive work environments had a significant inverse negative relationship with work-related stress experienced by nurses (p = .001) and accounted for 51% of variance in work-related stress. Meanwhile, supportive work environments had a significant positive relationship with conflict management styles of nurses (p = .026). Work-related stress had a significant relationship with nurses' conflict management style (p = .000) and accounted for 45% of the variance in conflict management style.
The style of conflict management modeled by staff within emergency departments can positively or negatively influence the work environment and level of work-related stress. There is a necessity to cultivate a supportive culture for nurses in emergency departments to develop skills for constructive conflict management styles to reduce work-related stress.