WORK-RELATED STRESS AND COPING AMONG MIDWIVES IN SLOVAKIA

Aim: The purpose of the study was to identify the most common workplace stressors and most frequently used coping strategies among Slovak midwives, as well as the relationships between work place stressors, coping strategies, and demographic characteristics. Design: Quantitative cross-sectional study. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with the research sample, which consisted of 100 midwives (females, age 37.91 ± 11.03). The Brief COPE questionnaire and Expanded Nursing Stress Scale were used. Descriptive statistic, Kruskal-Wallis Test, Student’s t-test, and Pearson’s Correlation Analysis were employed. Results: Death and dying, conflicts with doctors, and workload were the most cited stressors. Active coping, acceptance, and using instrumental support were the most frequently used coping strategies. Midwives used both problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies when dealing with work-related stressors. Conclusion: Since emotion-focused strategies are considered maladaptive in the long term, intervention strategies and education programs helping midwives in the use of positive forms of adaptive problem-focused coping would be beneficial. Keywords: coping strategies, midwives, working environment, work-related stressors