Benchmarking occupational stressors and strain levels for rural nurses and other health sector workers

This study was conducted with 1097 employees (866 females, 217 males, 14 did not indicate gender) in a regional Health Service District (HSD) who completed the Queensland Public Agency Staff Survey (QPASS). Nurses' results on measures of organisational climate and psychological outcomes were compared with those of other employees in the HSD. Nurses reported less favourable outcomes on all but one of the organisational climate scales, and also were found to have more distress (strain), and lower levels of morale, job satisfaction, and quality of worklife than others. Results were generally less favourable for nurses working in the large regional hospital and in mental health than for nurses in other facilities