The Relationship Between Job Demands and Job Stress Among Home Visiting Nurses: The Moderating Role of Job Resources.

AIM: To assess the current level of job stress among home visiting nurses; to examine the correlations among job demands, job resources and job stress; and to explore whether job resources moderate the association between job demands and job stress.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey.

METHODS

A total of 434 home visiting nurses from 13 comprehensive public hospitals and their affiliated community health centres were recruited using the convenience sampling method. The data were collected from March through June 2024. The instruments were the General Information Questionnaire, Job Demands Questionnaire, Job Resources Questionnaire and Job Stress Scale. Univariate group comparisons of job stress were performed using t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Bivariate relationships among variables were assessed with Pearson or Spearman correlation coefficients, based on data distribution. To test the hypothesized moderating effect of job resources on the relationship between job demands and job stress, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted. In the first model, statistically significant demographic and work-related variables were entered as controls. Job demands were added in the second model, followed by the four job-resource dimensions in the third model. The final model included the interaction term between job demands and job resources to examine the moderation effect.

RESULTS

The mean item score for job stress among home visiting nurses was 1.73 ± 0.35, job demands were 3.84 ± 0.95, and job resources were 4.54 ± 0.88. Job stress differed significantly according to the number of home visits per month, weekly working hours, experience of physical threats and visiting alone. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between job stress and job demands, whereas a negative correlation existed between job stress and job resources. Job demands negatively correlated with job resources. The interaction between job demands and job resources was significantly associated with job stress (B = -0.036, 95% CI [-0.058, -0.013], p = 0.002) and accounted for an additional 1.1% of the variance (ΔR2 = 0.011).

CONCLUSION

The findings indicated that the mean job stress score among home visiting nurses was relatively low compared with the possible scale range. Job resources play a moderating role in the relationship between job demands and job stress, though the buffering effect was modest. Nurse managers should mitigate job stress among home visiting nurses.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION: Nurse managers should strengthen social support and career development opportunities and develop supportive systems for nurses who work independently in home and community settings.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: With their self-report questionnaire responses, all participants helped to make this study a success.

REPORTING METHOD: The results were reported in accordance with STROBE guidelines.