Determining the relationship between nurses' perceptions of the working environment and presenteeism caused by work stress

Background and Aim: This descriptive study was conducted to determine the relationship between nurses' perceptions of their work environment and their experience of job stress-related presenteeism. Material and Methods: The study was carried out between November 29, 2023 and December 11, 2023 with 405 volunteers who hold the title of nurse and work in inpatient services at Ankara Bilkent City Hospital-Children's Hospital. "Introductory Information Form for Nurses", "Nursing Work Index-Nursing Work Environment Scale (NWI-NWES)" and "Job Stress-Related Presenteeism Scale" were used for data collection. The data obtained was analyzed on IBM SPSS Statistics 25 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) software. Descriptive statistical methods (number, percentage, minimum, maximum, median, mean, standard deviation) independent sample t-tests, One-Way ANOVA (F test), Bonferroni multiple comparison tests, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used. Results: The average perception of the nurses' work environment was found to be slightly above average (2.30±0.55), and the job stress related presenteeism was at an average level (17.69±5.63). Among the subdimensions of NWI-NWES, the highest average was "Nursing Resources Necessary for Quality Care" (2.56±0.58), while the lowest was subdimension "Adequacy of Human Resources and Other Resources" (1.77±0.55). Significant differences were found in work environment perception scale regarding age, department, and position, as well as in job stress related presenteeism in terms of gender (p<0.05). In both scales, significant differences were found in terms of work experience, working methods, weekly average work hours, general health status, whether they chose their department voluntarily, stress level, and department satisfaction (p<0.05). A significant negative moderate correlation and medium level relation was found between "Job Stress-Related Presenteeism Scale" and "NWI-NWES" (r=-0.441, p=0.000). It was found that all subdimensions of the NWI-NWES and job stress related presenteeism had significant negative correlation. Specifically, a moderate correlation was identified for " Nurse Participation in Management and Representation Power" (r=-0.429, p=0.000). Weak correlations were observed for " Nursing Resources Necessary for Quality Care" (r=-0.370, p=0.000), "Nurse Manager's Attitude and Leadership Qualities" (r=-0.379, p=0.000), "Adequacy of Human and Other Resources" (r=-0.371, p=0.000), and "Physician-Nurse Colleague Communication" (r=-0.317, p=0.000). It was found that nurses' perception of the work environment explained 19.2% of the change in work-related presenteeism due to stress (R2 =0.192). Conclusion: It was concluded that nurses' positive perceptions of their work environment reduce work-related presenteeism due to job stress. Keywords: Work environment, perception, nurses, job stress, presenteeism