An investigation into the association between role stress and absenteeism among nurses in the South African public health sector

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-87).Absenteeism in the nursing profession poses a serious threat to South African health care institutions (Samdi, 2000; McHugh, 2001). This research investigated the association between role stress, and the impact thereof on nurse absence frequency, voluntary and involuntary absence. Data was collected from 230 nurses (N = 230) in the Western Cape using a structured self-report survey. Statistical analysis of the results revealed that constant change and resource scarcity were weak yet significant predictors of nurse absence frequency. The remaining role stress constructs had no influence on the outcome variables. A major finding of the research was that the association between the role stress constructs and absenteeism amongst public sector nurses was weak. Two possible reasons for these findings were explored, the first being a measurement error associated with self-report data in absenteeism research. The second involved questions raised about the theoretical model on which the research question was based. Implications for theory and practice were discussed and recommendations for future research, provide