INTRODUCTION:

The greatest weapon against stress is one's ability to choose one thought. Stress is a state of disequilibrium that occurs when there is a disharmony between demands occurring within an individual's internal or external environment and his/her ability to cope up with those demands.^1,2Today workplace stress is becoming a major issue and a matter of concern for the employer and organization. It has become a part of life for employed women, as life today has become so complex at home as well as outside that it is impossible to avoid stress.

Anilkumar B. Jarali, G. and Radhakrishnan. in their study on stress, obesity and selected health problems among professionals found thatthere was significant association between the level of obesity and age, sex, education, profession and years of experience at work and monthly income with selected health problems. Variousmethods should be adopted to reduce stress and only when stress is reduced the human output can be increased.³

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

The competitive world searches for GOOD LIFE. Increase in number of opportunities of women in work place lead to the progress in the employment in women. Inability to coping with the roles in their family and their responsibilities in work place can be the leading cause stress among working women.^4,5S.K. Mohanasundhari did a comparative study to assess the level of stress between working and non-working women in Sir Ivan Stedeford Hospital at Ambattur and found that there is moderate level of stress perceived by both the groups.⁶But in an another study by Satish N. Choure to assess level of stress among working and non-working women residing in selected areas in a view to develop an information booklet it was revealed that the stress level among working is significantly more than that in non-working women. The health of the women can also be affected due to the psychological stress formed from the imbalance of coping between the family and employment.⁷Siva Prasad K.I. and P. T. Raveendran conducted a study on work-life Balance among female nursing employees in Academy of Medical science with special reference to North Kerala and their findings revealed that work-life balance among women nursing employees are satisfactory but seldom the management paying attention to frame and formalize the work-life management policies at the hospital.⁸Oraon.KC and Kumari. R (2019) did a Psychological Study on Stress among Working and Non-Working Married Women and they found that working women’s has more stress than non-working women.⁹In another comparative studyHarilal A and Santhosh VA assessed stress levels amongworking women and housewives withreference to the state of KeralaThe research study examined stress levels among working women and housewives, and the factors leading them to stressfulsituations. The analysis shows that stress levels are high for working women when compared with housewives. So we felt a need to assess the level of stress among employed mothers.¹⁰

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:

A study to assess stress among employed mothers in a selected community at Kothamangalam.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the level of stress among employed mothers.

2. To find out association between level of stress and selected demographic variables.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION:

Employed mothers:

In the study, "the employed mothers" refers to mothers between age group of 20-50 years who are going for a job every day.

Stress:

Stress is a stimulus or situation that produces distress and creates physical and psychological demands on a person requiring coping and adapting.

Assumptions:

1. There will be a high level of stress among employed mothers

2. Stress among employed mothers is influenced by demographic variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

H0. There is no significant association between the selected demographic variables and stress level of employed mothers.

H1. There is significant association between the selected demographic variables and stress level of employed mothers.

Delimitations:

1. Study is done only in a selected community

2. Study is done only in employed mothers of age group (20-50 years).

METHODOLOGY:

Research Approach:

A quantitative approach is used for the present study. Under the quantitative approach the investigators adopted non experimental descriptive approach for this study.

Research Design:

The research design used in this study is descriptive non experimental in nature.

Setting Of Study:

The present study was conducted in Kothamangalam community.

Population:

The population of this study is the employed mothers between age group of 20-50 years attending the inpatient and outpatient departments of St. Joseph's hospital and employed mothers working in St. Joseph's college of nursing, Kothamangalam.

Sample and Sampling Tecnique:

In this study, samples were 30 employed mothers between the age group of 20-50 years taken using purposive sampling technique.

Sampling Criteria:

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Employed mothers in the age group of 20- 50 years attending inpatient and outpatient department of St. Joseph's hospital and St. Joseph's college of nursing Kothamangalam.

2. Who are willing to participate in the study

3. Who can read and write Malayalam

Variables:

In this study demographic variables are the age, religion, residence, educational status, occupational status, income, marital status, supporting family members, type of family, number of children, working hours in a day, number of off days in a month, other working family members, distance to the work place and presence of disease.

Content validity:

In order to obtain content validity of the tool, the questionnaire wassubmitted to the experts. Suggestions were given by the experts in the baseline Performa as well as in rating scale. According to the suggestions items were revised to reflect their recommendations and then the final tool was prepared, which consist of 15 items in baseline performa and 30 items in rating scale.

Pilot Study:

The pilot study was conducted among 5 samples and the study was found to be feasible, practicable, and acceptable.

Data Collection Process:

A written permission was obtained from the administrator and nursing superintendent of St. Joseph’s hospital, Kothamangalam and principal of St. Joseph’s college of nursing, Kothamangalam. Consent was obtained from each respondent and assured the confidentiality of their response to the statements in the questionnaire.

Data Analysis:

Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and are presented in the form of tables.

RESULTS:

Section 1. Analysis of demographic variables:

Table No.1 Distribution of sample based on demographic variable n=30

Variables		Frequency	(%)
1.Age	20-30	9	30
	31-40	8	26.67
	41-50	13	43.33
2.Occupation	Govt sector	3	10
2.Occupation	Private sector	27	90
3.No. of children	1	11	36.67
	2	16	53.33
	3	3	10
	>3	0	0
4.No. of working hours In a day	1-4	0	0
	4-8	29	96.67
	8-12	1	3.33
5.Monthly income	5000-10000	9	20
	10000-15000	10	43.33
	>15000	11	36.67
6.Support from Family member	Yes	29	96.67
6.Support from Family member	No	1	3.33
7. Education	Primary	10	33.33
	Higher secondary	5	16.67
	Degree and above	15	50
8. Type of family	Nuclear	22	73.33
8. Type of family	Joint	8	26.67
9. Religion	Hindu	4	13.33
	Muslim	0	0
	Christian	26	86.67
10.Area of residence	Town	15	50
	Village	14	46.67
	Slum	1	3.33
11.Marital status	Married	27	97
11.Marital status	Widow	3	3
12.No of off days in a month	1-4	21	70
12.No of off days in a month	4-8	9	30
13.Other working family members	Yes	27	86.67
13.Other working family members	No	3	13.33
14.Distance from home to workplace	1-5km	12
	5-10km	10
	10-15km	8
15.Presence of disease	Yes	7	26.67
	No	23	73.33

The table shows that most of the samples (43.33%) were in between 41-50 years of age and belongs to Christian community (86.67%). Majority (50%) were living in town and (50%) were having degree and above education. Majority of the samples (90%) were working under private sector and (43.33%) were having monthly income between 10000-15000. Most of the samples (90%) were married and (73.33%) were from nuclear family. Based on the number of children most of the samples (53.33%) were having two children and most of the samples (96.67%) were supported by their family members. Majority of samples (96.67%) were working between 4-8 hours in a day and most of the samples (70%) were having 1-4 off days in a month. Majority (43.33%) were having 5-10Kms from their home to work place. Majority (73.33%) were not affected with any disease.

Section 2. Analysis of stress level

Table No.2: Stress scores

Level of stress	Score
No stress	30-60
Mild stress	60-90
Moderate stress	90-120
Severe stress	120-150

Table No. 3. Distribution of sample based on stress level

Stress level	Stress score	Frequency	Percentage (%)
No stress	30-60	6	20
Mild stress	60-90	15	50
Moderate stress	90-120	9	30
Severe stress	120-150	0	0
Very poor	<15	0	0

From the analysis of the data, it was found that 50% of samples have mild stress, 30% have moderate stress and 20% of the employed mothers have no stress.

Section 3. Association between selected demographic variables and stress level

Table no. 4 Association between stress level and selected demographic variables

Variables		< x̅	>x̅	df	Chi square value	Table value	Remarks
1.Age	20-30	6	3	2	0.832	5.99	Not significant
	31-40	6	3
	41-50	6	6
2.Religion	Christian	16	10	2	7.39	*5.99	*Significant
	Hindu	2	2
	Muslim	0	0
3.Residence	Town	10	5	2	2.163	5.99	Not significant
	Village	7	7
	Slum	0	1
4.Education	Primary	4	6	2	1.361	5.99	Not significant
	Higher secondary	3	2
	Degree and above	10	5
5.Occupation	Private	16	11	1	0.5174	3.84	Not Significant
	Government	2	1
6.Monthly income	5000-10000	2	7	2	7.93	*5.99	*Significant
	10000-15000	7	3
	>15000	9	2
7.Marital status	Widow	1	2	1	0.664	3.84	Not Significant
	Married	17	10
8.Family type	Nuclear	13	9	1	0.147	3.84	Not Significant
	Joint	5	3
9.Children	1	8	3	3	7.273	7.82	Not Significant
	2	9	7
	3	1	2
	>3	0	0
10.Supporting family members	Yes	18	11	1	1.531	3.84	Not Significant
	No	0	1
11.Working hours	1-4	0	0	2	5.1	5.99	Not Significant
	4-8	18	11
	8-12	0	1
12.OFF days	1-4	10	11	1	3.80	3.84	Not Significant
	No	8	1
13.Other working Family members	Yes	17	10	1	0.986	3.84	Not Significant
	No	1	2
14.Distance from home To work place	0-5km	8	4	2	0.657	5.99	Not Significant
	5-10km	5	5
	10-15km	5	3
15.Presence of disease	Yes	4	3	1	16.76	*3.84	* Significant
	No	14	9

Chi square test was done to find out the association between the stress and selected demographic variables. There is significant association between stress level score and selected demographic variables religion, the economic status and presence of no disease. This is supported by another comparative study done by Harilal A. and Santhosh VA to assess stress levels among working women and housewivesin which they also found that stress levels of women (both housewives and working women) and financial position of their family have a relationship.¹⁰So null hypothesis (H0) is rejected and research hypothesis (Hl) is accepted. In an another study done byOjha J, Bhandari TR, Karki R. on job stress and its associated factors among working women in Pokhara Metropolitan, Nepal, they found thatthe various factors found to be associated with job stress were participant's age, family type, health-care benefit at the office, and provision of health-care benefits.¹¹

Also in another study done by Latha Krishnan onfactors causing stress among working women and strategies to cope up, it was found that under socio-economic stressors, unexpected guests, followed by absence of domestic help causes major stress among working women. Similarly being perfectionist with unnecessary worries which cause psychological set back among working women. Moreover anxiety about children future and husbands job insecurity play a major role in causing stress under family and relationship.¹²

Kermane MM did a psychological study on stress among employed women and housewives and its management through progressive muscular relaxation technique (PMRT) and mindfulness breathing and he suggests that to successfully manage stress in everyday lives, individual can learn to relax and enjoy life. The best way to manage stress is to prevent it. This may not be always possible. So, the next best things are to reduce stress and make life easier. For these purpose different stress managementtechniques like meditation, yoga, hypnosis, guided imagery, muscle relaxation, mindfulness breathing etc. should be used. So as to curtail the stress level which is the cause of various fatal diseases like cardio vascular diseases, Hypertension etc. women being the prime victim especially employed women of stress therefore their stress management is essential both in the Govt. and private organizations.¹³Sagar K. and Ramesh Kumari in their study on women and stress suggested a personal wellness plan with built-in periods of recovery and self-care which can help women manage stress and empower themselves to make healthy life changes.¹⁴

Sanket V. Bhingardive, T. and Sivabalan in their study on job stress and coping strategies adopted by employees working at private university, a positive correlation was found between job stress and coping strategies adopted and they recommended to conduct refreshment/sensitization programs for the stress management.¹⁵A. Josephine Sutha in her study tells about the importance of relaxation tchniques to overcome stress and thereby improving job satisfaction.¹⁶Poonam Devi and JeenMexina S. through their study showed that Reminiscence Therapy was effective in reduction of stress among elderly residing in old age home. So we can teach and recommend this therapy for working women too for reducing their stress level.¹⁷

The present study was conducted to assess the level of stress among employed mothers. The findings of the study have several implications for nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research.

Nursing Practice:

The present study finding can motivate the nurse educators to assess the stress of employed mothers. The nurse can provide instructions and information to reduce the stress. The nurse can also advice the mothers to do relaxation techniques like meditation and Yoga.¹⁸ The proper utilization and findings of research can be used to reduce stress among employed mothers.

Nursing Education:

The findings of research study can be utilized to arrange various programs like guidance and counseling facilities, stress reduction programs and techniques for employed mothers.

Nursing Research:

The present study is done to evaluate the stress among employed mothers. The findings of the present study can be utilized by nurse researchers for their future research study regarding stress in employed mothers.

LIMITATIONS:

The study was conducted in a single institution and restricted only to employed mothers.

SUGGESTIONS:

l. Employed mothers can use various relaxation and diversional techniques such as music therapy, deep breathing exercise, yoga to reduce their stress.¹⁹

2. Planned instructions regarding coping mechanism that helps to reduce stress can be provided.

3. Instruct the employed mothers to make time to share their experience and feelings with family members. So as to reduce their stress workplace²⁰

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Keep in view of findings of present study the following recommendations were made:

a. An explorative study can be conducted to explore the stress among employed mothers.

b. Comparative study can be conducted among employed and unemployed mothers.²¹Interventional study can be conducted to reduce stress in employed mothers using pretest and posttest.²²

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Received on 18.12.2021 Modified on 29.01.2022

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2022; 12(4):435-440.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2022.00094