2.6 Nurses’ Coping Strategies
2.6.1 Problem-Focused Coping Strategy
According to Lazarus and Lazarus (2005), those who use emotion-focused coping strategies are primarily concerned with controlling their emotional pain, as opposed to those who use problem-focused coping strategies, who concentrate on what they can do to change their unfavorable situations. While alleviating emotional suffering is the primary goal of both coping mechanisms, how that distress is alleviated makes a difference. An emotion-focused coping technique is used to change one's response to a stimuli, as opposed to a problem-focused coping strategy, which is used to make the stimulus more intense (Lazarus & Lazarus, 2005). According to Folkman et al. (1986), persons who deal with stress effectively reframe stressful situations in a positive way, utilise goal-directed problem-focused coping techniques, and turn to spirituality for
42 solace and comfort; they provide purpose to everyday occurrences to gain psychological space from discomfort and exhibit traits including adaptability to unforeseen changes in life, showing the ability to seek social support, viewing stress as a challenge, and being in harmony with nature. They exhibit love, playfulness, and enthusiasm.
Problem-solving strategies such as establishing objectives to sort out problems, adopting various strategies to solve problems, and determining the meaning of stressful events are among the most prevalent defense mechanisms used by nursing students (Labrague, 2016, as cited in Bhurtun, 2019). Furthermore, nurses employ a variety of positive coping strategies, such as problem-focused coping, taking time off, and providing and receiving support from workmates. The findings imply that while maladaptive coping (suppression and denial) may greatly exacerbate the detrimental consequences of stress, positive coping may not be sufficient to diminish these effects.
The majority of nurses' coping mechanisms, according to Deklava et al. (2014), were problem-solving and self-control.
Teamwork was also found in the current study to be used as a positively focused coping mechanism. This is supported by a study conducted by Sobekwa and Arunachallam (2015), who discovered that nurses working in the acute admission ward mentioned the importance teamwork and helping one another in resolving the struggles come every.
One participant mentioned that they work as team, and that they regard themselves as a family. Another participant presented an illustration of a scenario in which an MHCU would turn hostile and require confinement. In order to calm the patient and move the MHCU into a seclusion room, the participant said that the nurses banded together.
This results are in line with that of Shattel et al. (2008), who discovered that except working under compromised environments, nurses, teamwork offered them mental strength. They also found that nurses aided one another when it came to teamwork, supporting MHCUs, and helping one another with patient care. Some participants stated that the team helped them through difficult periods emotionally. One participant, for instance, claimed that after being assaulted by an MHCU, her nursing coworkers provided her with the necessary support to deal with the situation (Sobekwa &
43 Arunachallam, 2015). According to Cleary et al. (2011), mental health nurses view teamwork's various benefits and roles in an acute mental health unit as crucial.
According to Totman et al. (2011), the nurses highly regarded effective cooperation and excellent connections with colleagues as factors that helped boost their morale.
Religion and believing in God was also found to be one of the coping strategies used by the majority of the PNs. The humanitarian origins of the nursing practice attest that religion and spirituality have always been imperative in the profession (Carson, 1989).
According to the study's findings by Bakibinga et al. (2014), all of the nurses said that their religious beliefs have a beneficial impact on their work and help them find meaning even in the face of tragedy. The majority of them stated that they used their faith in God to help them deal with difficult conditions and to continue working even when circumstances eventually required it. The participants said that they were able to achieve this through individual and group prayer activities with other nurses, which they said gave them the strength or ability to cope while at work (Bakibinga et al., 2014).
According to El-Islam (2015), religion is used to code rights and wrongs according to a superego formed by the internalisation of socially shared religious criteria. In addition, religion assists to provide a meaning for stress and its evaluation according to religious cognitive schemas. It provides hope in relief of the ensuing distress and sometimes emphasises that it is only the blasphemous who feel hopeless about the future. It encourages an appeal to God by praying to relieve distress and elicits support of members of the same religion in the mist of stress. The findings of the study by Bakibinga et al. (2014) show that all of the nurses acknowledged that religious principles had a beneficial impact on their performance, allowing them to find purpose even in the face of tragedy. The majority of them stated that in order to deal with difficult circumstances, their trust in God helped them cope better and continue working even when circumstances eventually required it. This was accomplished through participating in both individual and group prayer exercises with other nurses, which, according to the participants, gave them the courage or ability to cope while at work (Bakibinga et al., 2014). Religious leaders are sometimes mediators between man and God, for instance, in the confession of wrongdoing and repentance (El-Islam, 2015).
44 According to AlZayyat and AlGamal (2014), problem-focused strategies were the most commonly used coping strategies by nurses, while social support was the least commonly used. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that problem-solving coping has a positive connection to job satisfaction and health.