A self-report measure of neuropsychological symptomology : the neuropsychological symptom inventory

The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceived anxiety experienced by coronary care nurses working eight- and 12-hour work shifts. It was hypothesized that length of shift work affects the before- and after-shift anxiety for nurses working eight or 12-hour work shifts. Anxiety differences between the eight- and 12-hour work shifts were examined as well as differences between the before- and after-shift anxiety for each length of shift.Thirty-two (32) coronary care nurses from a general medical and surgical hospital in the Midwest volunteered to participate in the research. The sample consisted of all females (18 Registered Nurses, nine Licensed Practical Nurses, three charge nurses, a supervisory nurse, and a rehabilitation nurse). The nurses had voluntarily selected the eight- or 12-hour length of shift work and understood that they would be committed to work that shift for one year. Twelve nurses worked the eight-hour shift; 20 nurses chose the new 12-hour shift.The State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) was used to measure the nurses' before- and after-shift anxiety. Baseline data were collected from the nurses prior to the initiation of the 12-hour shift. The Box-Jenkins Time Series Analysis was used to analyze the daily before- and after-shift anxiety scores and to establish a forecasted trend for both the eight- and 12-hour shifts.The first finding was that the before-shift anxiety scores for the eight-hour workers declined, while the anxiety scores for the 12-hour workers increased, following the implementation of the 12-hour shift. The same trend was forecast for the after-shift anxiety scores. The eight-hour nurses' after-shift anxiety scores declined while the 12-hour nurses' anxiety scores increased. A transfer function was conducted for both the eight-hour and 12-hour before- and after-shift anxiety scores. No predictive trend could be established for the eight-hour anxiety scores; however, the 12-hour after-shift anxiety scores were found to be consistently higher than before-shift anxiety scores.Department of Educational PsychologyThesis (Ph. D.