Workplace and Personal Factors Associated with Physical and Mental Health in Hospital Nurses in China

Limited research exists on the workplace and personal factors that might be associated with the physical and mental health of nurses working in China. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to examine, in Chinese hospital nurses, the most frequently occurring workplace stressor, the most often used coping strategy, and the relationships that exist among workplace stressors, coping strategies, psychological hardiness, demographic characteristics, and physical and mental health. Four-hundred-and-eighty hospital nurses from five hospitals in three major Chinese cities were administered five self-report questionnaires. The findings indicated the most frequently cited workplace stressor was workload, while the most commonly used coping strategy was positive reappraisal. Numerous positive and negative correlations were found, suggesting the importance that workplace stress, coping strategies, psychological hardiness, and demographic characteristics play in relationship to each other, as well as to both the physical and mental health of Chinese nurses.