Other Titles
Rapid Presentation Round
Abstract
Background: The nursing staff in the behavioral health division identified high levels of work-related stress (WRS) in a hospital-wide learning needs assessment (NLNA) and furthermore suggested that the reduction of WRS was the number one priority that needed to be addressed. It is widely known that WRS has implications for nursing staffs' productivity, retention, safety and over-all wellbeing. Provision 5 of the Code of Ethics for Nurses notes that “The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety...” and Provision 6 requires that “The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains and improves...conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care”.
Purpose: The reduction of WRS is imperative to nurses’ health, safety, job performance and satisfaction. Research demonstrates that team trust and cohesion are promotive factors in nurse longevity in the field of psychiatric mental health nursing, and that the support of colleagues helps to reduce WRS, improve team cohesion and nurse satisfaction. It has also been demonstrated that staff and patient satisfaction are interlinked. However, even in the context of the nurses’ reports of a high degree of WRS, the patient satisfaction scores are high for our hospital’s behavioral health division. The results of the NLNA might suggest that nursing WRS could be part of the cost of those high patient satisfaction scores. Therefore, building team cohesion are ensuring support for nurses on the front line of patient care are crucial.
Methods: Over a two-year period, staff nurses in the behavioral health division of the hospital conceptualized and developed a series of interventions designed to target the reduction of WRS for themselves and their peers. A series of nurse-led team building activities, craft projects and staff safety interventions was offered to all nursing staff in the behavioral health division.
Results: Staff were asked to rate the effectiveness of each nurse-led intervention in an anonymous survey. Eighty three percent of the # staff who participated in the survey commented favorably about the effectiveness of the intervention series overall, in addition to rating each intervention separately.
Conclusion and Future Directions: The results of the staff survey helped to inform plans for additional, on-going nurse-led staff support interventions. An IRB approved QI project on the topic of nurse-led staff support and WRS reduction is in development.
Notes
References:
Fowler, M.D.M. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements (2nd ed.). American Nurses Association.
Chesak, S. S., Cutshall, S. M., Bowe, C. L., Montanari, K. M., & Bhagra, A. (2019). Stress Management Interventions for Nurses: Critical Literature Review. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 37(3), 288–295. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898010119842693
Mistry, H., Levack, W. M. M., & Johnson, S. (2015). Enabling people, not completing tasks: patient perspectives on relationships and staff morale in mental health wards in England. BMC Psychiatry, 15, 1–10. https://doi-org.fir.tesu.edu/10.1186/s12888-0150690-8
Nur, F., Harrison, D., Deb, S., Burch V, R. F., & Strawderman, L. (2021). Identification of interventions to improve employee morale in physically demanding, repetitive motion work tasks: A pilot case study. Cogent Engineering, 8(1), 1–17. https://doi org.fir.tesu.edu/10.1080/23311916.2021.1914287
Salmela, L., Woehrle, T., Marleau, E., & Kitch, L. (2020). Implementation of a “serenity room”: Promoting resiliency in the ED. Nursing. 50(10): p58-63. https://doi:10.1097/01.NURSE.0000697160.77297.06
White, P. (2015). Improving staff morale through authentic appreciation. TD:Talent Development, 69(4), 108–109.
Alexander, R. K., Diefenbeck, C. A., & Brown, C. G. (2015). Career Choice and Longevity in U.S. Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 36(6), 447–454. https://doi.org/10.3109/01612840.2014.994078
Sigma Membership
Upsilon Rho
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Work-related Stress, WRS, Well-being, Nursing Staff, Workforce, Behavioral Health, Peer-led Interventions
Recommended Citation
Horowitz, Stacy, "Addressing Staff Nurses’ Work-Related Stress With Peer-Led Interventions" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 3.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/3
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Washington, DC, USA
Conference Year
2024
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-02-10
Addressing Staff Nurses’ Work-Related Stress With Peer-Led Interventions
Washington, DC, USA
Background: The nursing staff in the behavioral health division identified high levels of work-related stress (WRS) in a hospital-wide learning needs assessment (NLNA) and furthermore suggested that the reduction of WRS was the number one priority that needed to be addressed. It is widely known that WRS has implications for nursing staffs' productivity, retention, safety and over-all wellbeing. Provision 5 of the Code of Ethics for Nurses notes that “The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety...” and Provision 6 requires that “The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains and improves...conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care”.
Purpose: The reduction of WRS is imperative to nurses’ health, safety, job performance and satisfaction. Research demonstrates that team trust and cohesion are promotive factors in nurse longevity in the field of psychiatric mental health nursing, and that the support of colleagues helps to reduce WRS, improve team cohesion and nurse satisfaction. It has also been demonstrated that staff and patient satisfaction are interlinked. However, even in the context of the nurses’ reports of a high degree of WRS, the patient satisfaction scores are high for our hospital’s behavioral health division. The results of the NLNA might suggest that nursing WRS could be part of the cost of those high patient satisfaction scores. Therefore, building team cohesion are ensuring support for nurses on the front line of patient care are crucial.
Methods: Over a two-year period, staff nurses in the behavioral health division of the hospital conceptualized and developed a series of interventions designed to target the reduction of WRS for themselves and their peers. A series of nurse-led team building activities, craft projects and staff safety interventions was offered to all nursing staff in the behavioral health division.
Results: Staff were asked to rate the effectiveness of each nurse-led intervention in an anonymous survey. Eighty three percent of the # staff who participated in the survey commented favorably about the effectiveness of the intervention series overall, in addition to rating each intervention separately.
Conclusion and Future Directions: The results of the staff survey helped to inform plans for additional, on-going nurse-led staff support interventions. An IRB approved QI project on the topic of nurse-led staff support and WRS reduction is in development.
Description
Peer-led interventions were created and implemented to relieve work related stress in nursing staff on inpatient units of a behavioral health facility. Participants were then evaluated on the effectiveness of the interventions.