Examining the Effectiveness of Stress Management Interventions Among Critical Care Nursing Staff

Posted: Dec 09, 2022

• Juliette Harrington
• Blake Cunningham
• Cooper Franklin

Abstract

The demanding environment of critical care units presents nursing staff with exceptional psychological challenges that significantly impact both professional performance and personal wellbeing. Critical care nurses routinely confront life-and-death decisions, ethical dilemmas, and intense emotional situations that contribute to elevated stress levels, burnout, and turnover rates. While the prevalence of stress among healthcare professionals is widely acknowledged, the specific effectiveness of targeted interventions for critical care nursing staff remains inadequately explored through rigorous methodological approaches. This research addresses this gap by implementing and evaluating multiple stress management modalities specifically tailored to the unique pressures faced by nurses in intensive care settings. The novelty of this investigation lies in its comprehensive approach to measuring stress responses through both objective physiological indicators and rich qualitative narratives. Traditional studies have often relied exclusively on self-report measures, which may be subject to recall bias and social desirability effects. By integrating continuous heart rate variability monitoring with real-time ecological assessment, this study captures the dynamic interplay between physiological arousal and cognitive-emotional experiences as they unfold during actual clinical work. This methodological innovation provides unprecedented insight into the temporal patterns of stress accumulation and recovery throughout nursing shifts.