The Effect of Educational Interventions for the Reduction of Nursing Staff’s Occupational Stress– Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Occupational stress affects professionals’ quality of life and causes reduction in productivity, even leaving work. Educational interventions for support may reduce stress. Aim: To review research studies regarding the effect of educational interventions for the prevention or reduction of nursing staff’s occupational stress. Method: Electronic databases were searched for research studies (Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus) using the keywords "education", "educational interventions", "nurses", "nursing staff", "stress", "burnout", "work", "job", "occupation". The acronym PICOS was used as an entry criterion to this systematic review, with studies that had as Population only nursing staff, Interventions which were exclusively educational, with one or more intervention groups (Controls), Outcomes related to the effect of education and, finally, quasi-experimental and randomized studies in terms of Study design. A total of 110 papers resulted from the electronic search, of which 18 papers (16 studies) studies were included. Results: In almost all of the studies the intervention was implemented on nursing staff, apart from three studies, which involved students. Educational interventions involved mainly mindfulness-based stress reduction, psychosocial education and cognitive-behavioral theories. Intervention groups reported lower levels of burnout compared to control groups, less stress, more positive emotions, greater well-being, life satisfaction, and quality of life associated with work. Conclusions: Education appears to have beneficial effects in reducing staff’s stress. The teaching strategies, however, remain traditional and cover mainly the area of cognitive learning.