Perception of demand and control, effort and reward, of daily tasks, in hospital ward nurses

Abstract

Background: Currently the research on work stress is dominated by the Demand-Control model proposed by Karasek and colleagues and the Effort-Reward model by Siegrist and colleagues. Mostly, this research is based on retrospective evaluation questionnaires, so workers have to remember retrospectively workplace situations and stress occurred in the past. Present day, it has been increased the research on stress based on ecological momentary assessment methods. Methods: This research assessed through a longitudinal design the work stress caused by different daily tasks during shift in a sample of ward nurses of hospitals settings. 103 nurses completed a brief questionnaire along five business days in a smartphone programmed with random alarms. There were recorded what task was being performed at the moment, following the WOMBAT classification, and were asked to rate demand, control, effort, and reward. Findings and Discussion: Direct care to patients occupied 27% of the total time of the shift. Direct care tasks were perceived as more demanding and required more effort, but also were perceived as more controlling and rewarding than the other tasks.