Work Stress And Cigarette Smoking Behaviours: Correlation Among Nurses In UK

Aim and Objectives of the Study

Describe about the Work Stress and Cigarette Smoking Behaviours.

Background and Problem of the Research

Smoking is one of the primary threats to the health of human beings. Apart from the younger adults, the individuals involved in the health related professions are highly exploited to the addiction of nicotine due to the smoking initiation. From the context of UK, it has been observed that 90% of the health professionals are engaged in smoking due to the continuous working pressure from their respective workplace settings (Smith et al. 2013). Based on the various reports, it is ascertained that individuals already smoked 100 cigarettes in their lifetime are not likely to quit. Although, the rate of smoking is minimised in the younger adolescents, different evidence suggest that the smoking behaviour among the older adolescents associated with the health profession is continuously rising (Nelson et al. 2012). Therefore, it is crucial to understand the nature of the tobacco experience by the nurses. The certain understanding is further complicated by the empirical studies with the utilisation of various assumptions. These assumptions are highly focused on the perceptions or the experiences gained by the nurses during their professional commitments. Therefore, this study should need to be based on developing the correlation between the smoking behaviours of the individuals and the significant factor driving such activity.

The key aim of the research is determining the significant correlation between the work pressure and smoking behaviours among the nurses working in the health institutions in UK (Hasselhorn, Tackenberg, and Peter 2013). With the help of achieving the predefined aim, it is expected to gather useful understanding regarding the significant factors forcing these health professionals towards smoking habit. Furthermore, some important research objectives have been formed in line with the identified aim.

Evaluating the relationship between the depression at work and smoking behaviour among the nurses

Determining the correlation between the smoking resistance self efficacy and smoking behaviours

Conducting assessment of the relationship between the smoking resistance self efficacy and depression

The null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis of the overall research are outlined below. The study is performed with the intention of developing the useful findings regarding the identified context of the research for supporting the statement as part of the alternative hypothesis (Saksvikâ€ÂLehouillier et al. 2013).

H₀: There is no significant correlation between the stress levels and smoking behaviours among the nursing professionals

H₁: There is the presence of a significant correlation between the stress levels and smoking behaviours among the nursing professionals

Hypothesis of the Study

Introduction

The section is developed based on the valuable information collected from the research participants. The section will highlight the approaches made and the techniques adopted for ensuring the effective collection of research data and supporting the analysis. In case of this particular study, selection of proper sample for deciding the appropriate research participants is highly important (Maslach and Jackson 2013). The particular decision for choosing the participants for the investigation should need to represent the identified context of the study. Apart from that, selecting the proper design and intended procedures also provide useful impact to the overall outcomes of the investigation (Jarczok et al. 2013). Additionally, the approaches and practices performed as part of the research method are all determined by complying these with the ethical guidelines and principles.

The entire viability of the research is based on accessibility of the participants from the different health related institutions of the London area. It is evident that not all the nurses from the hospitals or nursing homes are unwilling to participate in the study due to their sensitivity issues. On the other hand, the extracting the feedbacks from the nurses is highly significant for the achieving the aim of the study (Schernhammer et al. 2013). Because of that, the cross-sectional study is selected as the particular design of the research. The fundamental reason of selecting such research design is the particular support obtained for conducting the study based on the survey questionnaire. The identified approach will ensure the anonymous responses from the research participants.

The procedures of the study will be discussed to ensure the suitable collection of research data. The data collection process is mainly divided in two categories, such as primary and secondary data collection procedure. Primary data plays the significant role in answering the basic questions of the research and achieving the goal with developing a sound conclusion of the overall study (Tavolacci et al. 2013). It is decided that the Primary data will be collected by undertaking the survey questionnaire method. The questionnaire comprises of a set of questions towards the participants of the study, as they are formed in a structured manner to extract their close-ended responses (Kim et al. 2013). Secondarily, the secondary data will be collected by the works of previous scholars and academicians for shaping up the primary understanding reflected by the collection of primary data.

Ethical implications are highly followed during the research. It is mentioned earlier that some nurses from the health facilities might find the topic of the research as highly sensitive. As a result, they might be reluctant to participate in the research. Hence, the data collection approaches and other practices of the research are performed by providing due emphasis to protect the personal identifies of the participants (Chao et al. 2015). During the execution of the proposed research methods, the respondents are assured to provide due protection for their privacy to ensure the proper and unhesitant participation to the investigation process.

Method

The participants of the research are ten nurses from the healthcare facilities of London. For selecting the nurses, non-randomized sampling techniques was used, as the particular size of the population is high and complicated regarding the process of selection (Neville and Cole 2013).

Result

The significant results of the study are generated by the effective involvement of the questionnaire survey dedicated to collect the responses from the research participants. Firstly, based on the scale of five, the stress levels of the nurses are measured by their feedbacks, where five represents the higher involvement of stress during their working commitment. Based on the stress level, the smoking behaviours of these nurses are measured to develop the understanding regarding the correlation between the perceived level of stress and smoking habits. From the table formed below, the suitable responses obtained from the respondents are highlighted effectively.

Participant No.	Average Cigarette Consumption in a Week	Stress Level in an Average Week
1	20	5
2	2	2
3	40	5
4	2	1
5	10	4
6	20	4
7	5	2
8	1	1
9	25	5
10	9	3

(Table 1: Smoking Habit of the Nurses in relation to their Perceived Level of Stress; Source: Created by the Author)

From the identified table, it is clearly acknowledged that nurses tend to smoke more cigarettes during their professional period when the perceived level of stress is high. It is reflected from the data collection that their average cigarette consumption in a week increases as their stress level during the week is becoming high. It can be stated that the escalating working pressure as part of the profession is leading the nurses of the country to become addicted to smoking habits.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion

From the overall findings, it can be reflected that there is a significant correlation between the work stress and cigarette smoking behaviours among the health professionals including the nurses of healthcare system. Increasing work stress creates rising depression among the female professionals to drive them engraining continuously in the smoking behaviours. From the application of the study, it is notified that the social factors are widely responsible for adolescent professionals to involve in the cigarette smoking within different communities.

The key strength of the intended study is developing the useful knowledge forcing the professional nurses of the healthcare settings to generate a smoking habit. The utilisation of the self-structured questionnaire for gauging the average stress during the workplace is also another primary importance of the study.

Alternatively, there are some significant limitations of the study. One of which can be identified in the use of self-reporting questionnaire as the survey instrument for the data collection. The particular type of questionnaire cannot be verified by the other sources. Apart from that, neither any screening procedures nor chart reviews are performed during the development of research findings. It would help the entire finding of the study to be more rational and valid.

Results and Discussions

The entire study is conducted to highlight the smoking behaviours and stress experienced by the nursing professionals, where the result of the investigation may vary for the other healthcare professionals of the country. Therefore, it is recommended for the future research works to provide a broader emphasis to the context (Chao et al. 2015). Apart from that, the future studies must need to capture the various socio-demographic perspectives for devising the broad conclusion regarding the chosen subject.

References

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