Stress is always present, Stress och coping hos personalen på en kvinnojour

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine work related stressors and related coping strategies among case managers at a domestic violence shelter in the United States. We further wanted to examine whether locus of control among the participants could be related to work related stress and coping strategies. Qualitative interviews were performed with eight case managers to gain knowledge about the stressors and coping strategies they used by examining their thoughts, feelings and experiences. The result showed that the case managers experience a number of stressors in their work environment such as system problems (e.g., lack of re¬sources and time pressure) and emotional stress. Coping responses among the case managers included efforts to alter the problem, so called problem focused coping, efforts to control emo¬tions, so called emotions focused coping and social support from colleagues. The coping strategy that was most frequently mentioned was social support. A unique finding for this study was that all the participants had a routine after coming home from work that involved having a shower. The findings suggest that creating a supportive environment is of great impor¬tance for the wellbeing of the case managers at the shelter. The conclusion for this study, ex¬cept for the findings mentioned above, is the importance of adequate coping strategies and self awareness at an organisational level and among the workers.