中華心理衛生協會

The purposes of this study were (1) to understand the job stress, social support and level of depression in nurses and (2) to investigate factors associated with the level of depression among these nurses. The subjects were 250 nurses from three medical centers in Kaohsiung and Pingtung. They were sampled with the stratified cluster random sampling method. The questionnaire used in the study consisted of four sections: personal information, job stress scale, social support scale and Beck Depression Inventory. The results of this study showed that: (1) The percentage of subjects with severe depression (BDI score 29-63), moderate depression (BDI score 20-28) and mild depression (BDI score 14-19) were 4.8%, 7.6% and 22%, respectively. (2) The mean score of the subjects' total job stress was 147.74 (SD=49.81) which was higher than previous findings using the same scale. (3) The mean score of the subjects' social support was 89.62 (SD=13.15). (4) Nurses who were senior, with religious beliefs and with greater job stress suffered higher level of depression. Based on the results, we made recommendations to the nursing staff and their supervisors in the hospitals with the hope that the nursing staff can play a better professional role under a sound mental condition.