title: ASSESSING FACTORS THAT AFFECT COPING STRATEGIES AMONG NURSING PERSONNEL.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The nursing profession is characterized as one of the most stressful professions. A significant number of international surveys prove that nurses experience anxiety that often is accompanied by intense symptoms that negatively affect their work performance and their psychological mood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the ways of coping in stress adopted by the nursing staff and their relationship with sociodemographic and job characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted in seven hospitals of Peloponnese Region, Greece. The study took place between April 2013-June 2013 and 395 nurses completed the Ways of Coping questionnaire. Socio-demographic, educational and job characteristics of nurses were, also, recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Strategies focused on the problem were adopted to a greater extent more by postgraduate nurses, head nurses, and nurses with greater working experience. Intensive Care Unit nurses mainly adopted the strategy of denial while strategies focused on emotions were mostly adopted by females. Age and marital status did not affect significantly the choice of coping strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to our findings several demographic factors that affect coping in stressful situations can be investigated and such an investigation could offer useful research findings for consideration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zyga
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece.
authors.forename: Stavroula
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitrousi
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Alikari
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sachlas
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stathoulis
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece.
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fradelos
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Panoutsopoulos
authors.affiliation: Alexander Technological Institute of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Lavdaniti
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maria
keywords: clinical department effect; educational level; nurse-patient ratio; nurses’ stress; ways of coping