The relationship between work stress and years of experience amongst male mental health care practitioners within tertiary psychiatric hospitals in the uMgungundlovu Health District

Abstract

Psychiatric nursing is a speciality within the nursing profession in which the nurse directs his or her efforts to the early identification of and intervention in emotional problems and work towards the promotion of mental health. In addition, effort is placed on the prevention of mental disturbances, and follow - up care to minimize long - term effects of mental disturbance (Uys and Middleton, 2014:18-20). According to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) (2015), 16.5% of South Africans suffer from common mental disorders like depression and anxiety. Even more concerning is the fact that 17% of children and adolescents suffer from mental disorders. Mental illness adversely affects the person’s brain and at times requires long-term treatment. In this study a total of 158 male mental health care nurse practitioners’ were questioned and a quantitative non- experimental cross sectional descriptive survey was conducted to describe male mental health care nurse’s practitioners’ years of experience in psychiatric nursing and the levels of stress of these nurses was identified. The researcher also determined whether there was any relationship between the stress reported and the years of experience amongst male mental health care nursing practitioners in tertiary psychiatric hospitals in Pietermaritzburg.