Gender differences in work stress among nigerian nurses

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in work stress among nurses in federal medical centres in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of nine hundred and twenty-three nurses. Data was collected using the Nurses' Work Stress Questionnaire (NWSQ). Four research assistants helped to collect the data. Mean, standard deviation and t-test were used to analyze the data collected. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 probability level. Results: Male nurses had mean work stress of 4.09 ± .22 while female nurses had mean work stress of 4.08 ± .21. There was no significant mean difference in work stress among the male and female nurses investigated, t(921) = 1.369, p = 0.17, 95%CI =-.009,.049. Conclusion: Nigerian government should support researchers to initiate gender-inclusive psychological interventions for the management of work stress among nurses. Occupational health counsellors are also urged to implement gender-inclusive counselling interventions to help the nurses to manage work stress.