Nursing practice. Stress and attitudes towards the work environment.

This paper discusses a survey carried out within four wards in an elderly services' unit. There were two main aims of the study. One was an attempt to determine the degree of burn-out present in the wards, and the second was to ascertain the nursing staff's perceived areas of stress within their work environment. Clarke (1) relies heavily on the transactional view of stress, while Selye (2), suggests that coping with stress involves the individual in direct action in changing the demands put upon him or her. This direct action is aided by information on how to cope with stressors and, therefore, knowledge of stress symptoms are required. She suggests that giving information changes an uncertain situation into one of certainty, and at the very least, will change an individual's view of a new event from something frightening into a more familiar experience.