title: Effects of stress management program on the quality of nursing care and intensive care unit nurses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High level of stress in intensive care unit nurses affects the quality of their nursing care. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effects of a stress management program on the quality of nursing care of intensive care unit nurses.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is a randomized clinical trial that was conducted on 65 nurses. The samples were selected by stratified sampling of the nurses working in intensive care units 1, 2, 3 in Al-Zahra Hospital in Isfahan, Iran and were randomly assigned to two groups. The intervention group underwent an intervention, including 10 sessions of stress management that was held twice a week. In the control group, placebo sessions were held simultaneously. Data were gathered by demographic checklist and Quality Patient Care Scale before, immediately after, and 1 month after the intervention in both groups. Then, the data were analyzed by Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney, Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) through SPSS software version 18.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean scores of overall and dimensions of quality of care in the intervention group were significantly higher immediately after and 1 month after the intervention, compared to pre-intervention (P < 0.001). The results showed that the quality of care in the intervention group was significantly higher immediately after and 1 month after the intervention, compared to the control group (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As stress management is an effective method to improve the quality of care, the staffs are recommended to consider it in improvement of the quality of nursing care.
authors.affiliation: Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Saied
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pahlavanzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Student Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Zohreh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Asgari
authors.affiliation: Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Nasrollah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alimohammadi
keywords: Intensive care units; Iran; nurses; personnel management; quality of care; quality of health care; stress; stress management