Cluster Profiling of Stress and Coping Patterns among Nurses and Midwives: A Latent Class Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64261/pajhps.v1n1.011Keywords:
occupational stress, coping strategies, psychological wellbeing, mental health, workforce resilienceAbstract
Background: Occupational stress and poor psychological wellbeing among nurses and midwives remain critical challenges, particularly in low- and middle-income countries such as Ghana. While prior studies have examined these issues using variable-centred approaches, few have explored the underlying subgroups of professionals based on their stress responses and coping behaviours.
Objective: This study aimed to identify distinct latent classes of nurses and midwives in Ghana based on their patterns of occupational stress, coping strategies, and psychological wellbeing using a person-centred analytic approach.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 287 nurses and midwives working in four Catholic hospitals in Ghana. Standardised instruments were used to assess occupational stress, coping strategies, and psychological wellbeing. Latent class analysis (LCA) was employed to classify respondents into subgroups based on their psychological profiles. Associations between class membership and demographic variables were explored using chi-square tests.
Results: Four distinct classes emerged: (1) high stress, low coping, low wellbeing (22%); (2) moderate stress, adaptive coping, average wellbeing (29%); (3) low stress, high coping, high wellbeing (31%); and (4) low stress, avoidant coping, low wellbeing (18%). Class membership was significantly associated with age, years of service, and professional category (p < .01). Younger and less experienced nurses were overrepresented in the most distressed class, while midwives with longer years of service were predominant in the most resilient group.
Conclusion: The findings reveal meaningful heterogeneity in how nurses and midwives experience and manage stress. Person-centred approaches like LCA can uncover hidden subgroups that may benefit from tailored mental health interventions. The results underscore the importance of designing targeted support systems based on demographic and psychological profiles to enhance the wellbeing of healthcare workers in Ghana.
Keywords: occupational stress, coping strategies, psychological wellbeing, nurses, midwives, Ghana, mental health, workforce resilience
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Pan-African Journal of Health and Psychological Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All articles published in the Pan-African Journal of Health and Psychological Sciences (PAJHPS) are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Under this license:
-
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication.
-
The work may be shared, copied, redistributed, and adapted for any purpose, even commercially.
-
Appropriate credit must be given to the original author(s) and the journal, along with a link to the license.
-
Users must indicate if changes were made.
-
There are no restrictions on reuse, provided the original work is properly cited.
Citation:
Authors and users must cite the original work in the following manner:
Author(s). (Year). Title of the article. Pan-African Journal of Health and Psychological Sciences, Volume(Issue), page range. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/pajhps.vXnY.xxx
Copyright Statement:
Authors grant PAJHPS a non-exclusive license to publish the work and identify itself as the original publisher. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version (e.g., post it to a repository or publish it in a book), with acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
