Kuratorers personliga upplevelser av stress och coping på ett akutsjukhus i Stockhol

Abstract Title: Welfare officers personal experiences of stress and coping in an emergency hospital in Stockholm The purpose with this study was to describe how welfare officers in an emergency hospital experienced stress in their workplace and what coping strategies they used. Through qualitative interviews the welfare officers thoughts and experiences were examined. The result showed that welfare officers experienced some stress at the workplace; this was related to lacks in the organization, heavy workload and short of time. The most commonly used coping strategies were social support, physical training, short breaks during the day to handle the stress at work. The conclusions of this study was that factors that reduces stress for welfare officers who work at emergency hospitals was a functioning organization and management, the ability to control and at some levels effect their own work, to have guidance and other opportunities to ventilate with co-workers. If the stress was to much it resulted in reduced self-esteem, doubt in their competence and the feeling of loss of control. Keywords: welfare officer, emergency hospital, stress, coping, psychosocial work environment