How perceived social support mitigates occupational stress and enhances psychological well-being in nurses returning to work after childbirth.

BACKGROUND

The return to work from maternity leave is a time when the professional demands overlap with the new responsibilities of caring for children, which may result in psychological stress for nurses. Perceived social support can be a protective resource to buffer stress and promote adaptation.

OBJECTIVE

To determine if perceived social support would moderate the relationship between occupational stress and psychological well-being for nurses who returned to work after childbirth.

METHOD: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in ten health care facilities in Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. Four validated Arabic questionnaires were completed by a convenience sample of 200 nurses who had returned to work within 12 months after giving birth: a demographic questionnaire, a Brief Nursing Stress Scale, a 18-item Swedish adaptation of Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale, and a Perceived Social Support Scale for postpartum nurses. Descriptive statistics, correlation tests, multiple regression, and Hayes' PROCESS macro were used for analyses.

RESULTS

Occupational stress had significant negative correlation with perceived social support (r = -0.332, p < .01) and psychological well-being (r = -0.506, p < .01). Psychological well-being was positively related to perceived social support (r = 0.410, p < .01). Occupational stress was a significant negative predictor of well-being (β = -0.506, p < .001) for regression results. Moderation analysis confirmed that the negative relationship between stress and well-being was significantly mitigated by perceived social support (β = 2.500, p < .001), accounting for 52% of the variance in well-being.

CONCLUSION

The importance of perceived social support in decreasing stress and enhancing wellbeing of postpartum nurses suggests that multi-level supportive interventions are necessary.