Five-year follow-up study of stress among nurses in public and private hospitals in Thailand

A longitudinal perspective on 14 hospitals in Thailand examined sources of occupational stress, coping strategies, and job satisfaction. A sample of 200 nurses was compared to 147 nurses sampled from the same hospital wards after 5 years and revealed a significant increase in nurses’ workload, involvement with life and death situations, and pressure from being required to perform tasks outside of their competence. Although nurses working in public hospitals generally reported more stress than private hospitals, surprisingly nurses’ satisfaction with their job increased particularly in public hospitals, which may be attributable to age, improvements in monetary compensation, and organizational support.