ABSTRACT

This study investigated stress and psychological burnout among nurses in Abia Amarachara Specialists Hospital, Umuopara (ASHU), both in State, were selected for the study.There ages ranges between 28 and 60 years. Two instruments were adapted for the study: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which was developed by Maslach and Jackson (1978) Nursing Stress Questionnaire (NSQ) developed by Gray-Toft and Anderson (1981). Split-half reliability, Coefficient of r =.70 was obtained for MBI and test retest of r = .78 was reported in NSQ respectively. Pearson Product Moment Correlation, Mean and standard deviation were used for the research question while liner regression and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with unequal sample sizes was employed in testing hypothesis two. The finding was as follows: young nurses with high level of stress reported higher burnout scores than old nurses with high level of stress. There was a statistically significant difference in the degree of burnout reported by young and old nurses. Stress level and age of nurse on report of burnout was statistically significant. It was concluded that hospital management should liaise with psychologists to assist their staff with mental health check to help their staff keep fit, thereby improving nurses’ psychological and physical wellness and quality in health services delivery.