Objetive:

The following study had the aim to analyze the stress level and health status perceptions of the nursery staff from psychiatric units dependent on a High complexity hospital from Chile. Te previous was theoretically supported by Betty Neuman systems model.

Materials and Methods:

Te research presented a quantitative transactional correlational design. Te population surveyed was 88 people from the nursery staff mentioned above. With regard to the gathered information, three instruments were applied: "Personal and working background", a "Twelve-question General Health questionnaire (GHQ-12)" and "Stress psychosomatic symptoms questionnaire by Cooper (CSPS)". Te mentioned instruments were applied for collecting biosociodemographic data and symptoms related to workload.

Results:

Some of the most outstanding results highlight that the most statistically meaningful variables are: (1) the great amount of medical leaves during the last 12 months; (2) the type of medical leaves and the health status perceived during the last 6 months, where 45,5 % of the staff have not presented any medical leave during the last year, and the 9,1 % of the participants have presented from 4 to 6 medical leaves. Some of the most prevalent medical absence were severe illnesses with 27,3 %, followed by psychiatric medical leaves with 13,6 %. With regard to the GHQ-12 questionnaire, 28,4 % of the staff presented a high level of stress due to work. Otherwise, the CSPS reflected that 51,1 % of the participants show a high level stress.

Conclusion:

As a conclusion, those participants who presented a good health status have a low stress level at work, meanwhile, the participants who have a decreased health status presented higher levels of stress at work. In the same way, those participants who have presented between 4 to 6 medical leaves, mentioned a high level of stress at work, and the participants who have not presented medical leaves pointed lower stress levels.

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