Occupational Stress and Coping Strategies as Predictors of Quality of Life Among Mental Health Practitioners in Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Barnawa, Kaduna State

Abstract

Mental health practitioners such as psychiatrists’ medical doctors, psychologists, clinical social workers, professional counselors, and psychiatric nurses, often work with individuals who are experiencing mental health challenges and deal with a high level of stress in their work. It is on this base that this study examined occupational stress and coping strategies as predictors of quality of life among mental health practitioners in Federal Neuro- Psychiatric Hospital Barnawa Kaduna State. The research adopted a cross-sectional survey design using purposive sampling technique to select one hundred and forty participants. Two hypotheses were tested
using (SPSS) version 27. The descriptive statistics used to describe the demographic characteristics were frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation while the inferential statistics for the test of hypotheses were Pearson Product Moment Correlation, Linear
Regression, Univariate Analysis of Variance and One-Way. Hypothesis one revealed a statistically significant negative relationship between occupational stress and quality of life of mental health practitioners in Kaduna r(138)= -0.354, P < 0.05. In other words, the hypothesis was confirmed in this study. Hypothesis two revealed that copping strategy has a significant influence on the quality of life thus, accounted for about 15% variance for the quality of life among mental health practitioners in Kaduna State (R= .387; F= 24.288, P < .01). The results indicate a significantly positive impact of coping strategy on quality of life of mental health practitioners in Kaduna State (β= 0.549 t= 4.928, p < .01). In other words, this hypothesis was confirmed significant in this study. The study concluded and recommended among others that the federal government should implement interventions to alleviate occupational stress and
enhance coping skills among mental health practitioners in the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Barnawa, Kaduna State.