Development and validation of the job stressor scale for specialty nurses.

Objectives: Specialty nurses play a crucial role in specialized nursing practice, teaching, management, and research. These nurses often face significant work pressure; therefore, scientifically and effectively assessing their job stress and its sources is vital for enhancing the quality of their work. However, there is currently a dearth of verified assessment tools for measuring job stressors among specialty nurses. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and test an instrument to assess the job stressors applicable to specialty nurses. Methods: We conducted a multiphase mixed-methods study. The initial scale items were developed from a literature review and structured interviews. The scale was then refined through two rounds of expert consultation (N = 14) and a primary test (N = 20). A main survey (N = 552) was then conducted to evaluate the scale's construct validity and reliability using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results: The final scale comprises four dimensions with 27 items. The factors included "specialized nursing and work," "workload and time allocation," "patient care," and "work resources and environment." The EFA explained 69.10% of the variance, while the CFA confirmed a good model fit. The content validity index was 0.980 at the scale level and 0.790-1.000 at the item level. The scale's reliability was supported by its high Cronbach's α (0.958), test-retest reliability (0.946), and split-half reliability (0.868). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the job stressor scale developed in this study is valid and reliable, and is recommended for use among specialty nurses to assess their stressors.

Survey of role stress among specialty nurses working in tertiary general hospitals across China: a cross-sectional descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Occupational stress can affect specialty nurses' quality of work, especially for those working in care units. This study, therefore, investigated role stress and its related factors among specialty nurses working in tertiary general hospitals. METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study used convenience sampling to recruit 795 Chinese specialty nurses in 11 tertiary general hospitals (from February to March 2023). A questionnaire survey was conducted using the Basic Information Questionnaire and the Role Stress Scale. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed on the survey data to explore the factors affecting role stress. RESULTS: The total role stress score of specialty nurses in tertiary general hospitals was 52.05 ± 19.98. The highest mean item score was quantitative overload, followed by qualitative overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity, which had the lowest score. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that gender (ß = -0.085, p < 0.05), educational background (ß = 0.077, p < 0.05), and work experience (ß = -0.104, p < 0.05) were the main factors influencing role stress among specialty nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Specialty nurses in tertiary general hospitals had higher levels of role stress than general nurses. Their role stress was primarily reflected in role overload, followed by role conflict and ambiguity. The factors affecting specialty nurses' role stress included gender, work experience, and educational background. Nursing managers should monitor the role stress experienced by specialty nurses in tertiary general hospitals. Providing psychological support for male specialty nurses, performance rewards and learning opportunities for highly educated specialty nurses, and continuous training for inexperienced specialty nurses are essential measures to relieve role stress.

Linkage between role stress and work engagement among specialty nurses: a cross-sectional study of China.

OBJECTIVES: Specialty nurses play a significant role in improving patient care; however, little is known about the factors affecting their work engagement. This study aimed to explore the relationship between role stress and work engagement among specialty nurses in China. DESIGN: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was applied in this study. SETTING: The study was conducted in the Henan Provincial People's Hospital in China. PARTICIPANTS: From March to April 2023, we conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study, using convenience sampling to recruit 972 specialty nurses from 42 specialised fields in China. METHODS: An online questionnaire survey was conducted using the Basic Information Questionnaire, Role Stress Scale and Specialty Nurse Work Engagement Scale. The collected data were analysed by using SPSS 21.0 software. The differences in total work engagement scores between subgroups were investigated using a single-factor analysis of variance. A Spearman's rank correlation and a Pearson's correlation were used to determine the relationship between general information, role stress and work engagement. A ridge regression analysis explored the impact of role stress on work engagement. RESULTS: The total score of role stress was (52.44±19.92) and the total score of work engagement was (140.27±17.76). Among the scores of various dimensions of specialty nurses' work engagement, the standardised score for work attitude was the highest (4.54±0.56), followed by work values (4.46±0.64); the standardised score of work enthusiasm and focus was the lowest (4.22±0.64). Additionally, role ambiguity (r=-0.352, p<0.001), role conflict (r=-0.367, p<0.001), role overload (r=-0.313, p<0.001) and role stress (r=-0.380, p<0.001) were negatively correlated with work engagement. The total score of role stress was negatively correlated with the total score of work engagement; the results of ridge regression analysis showed that age, professional title and role stress explain 14.6% of the variance in work engagement. CONCLUSION: Our study found that specialty nurses' work engagement was mid-level or above. Role stress was significantly and negatively correlated with specialty nurses' work engagement, which was an important predictor of their work engagement. Nursing managers should instate effective measures to reduce role stress, thereby increasing work engagement.

[Potential use of the herbicide quizalofop-p-ethyl for eicosapentaenoic acid overproduction by the diatom Nitzschia laevis].

The diatom Nitzschia laevis is a good alternative source of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Besides strategies for high cell density culture, EPA productivity may be further improved by herbicides. The effect of the herbicide quizalofop-p-ethyl on the growth and EPA production was studied in this paper. As the solvent of the herbicide, DMSO was proved to inhibit the growth and EPA production of N. laevis. The concentration of DMSO in the medium should not exceed 0.2%. Quizalofop-p-ethyl could cause morphology damage to the N. laevis cells. With the increasing concentration of quizalofop-p-ethyl from 0 mmol/L to 0.4 mmol/L, the dry cell weight production decreased, while at the same time, the lipid content of the dry cell mass increased. When treated with 0.1 mmol/L quizalofop-p-ethyl, the EPA content increased from 3.00% to 3.58% (of dry cell weight, DW), and the proportion of EPA (20:5) in total fatty acids (TFA) increased from 25.15% to 32.88% . These results indicated that the herbicide quizalofop-p-ethyl could stimulate the accumulation of EPA; therefore it might be useful for selecting algae colonies that overproduce EPA.