Comparative Analysis of Occupational Stress and Psychological Wellbeing among Urban and Rural Nurses and Midwives in Ghana
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: Nurses and midwives in Ghana are exposed to diverse stressors that affect their psychological wellbeing, yet little is known about how these experiences vary between urban and rural health settings. Understanding such contextual differences is essential for developing targeted mental health interventions for healthcare professionals.
Objective: This study examined the comparative levels of occupational stress, coping strategies, workplace relationships, and psychological wellbeing among nurses and midwives working in selected urban and rural Catholic hospitals in Ghana.
Methods: A cross-sectional comparative design was employed involving 287 nurses and midwives from two urban (Fijai and Jubilee) and two rural (Eikwe and Asankrangwa) hospitals. Participants completed validated questionnaires measuring occupational stress, coping strategies, workplace social relationships, and psychological wellbeing. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, MANOVA, and two-way ANOVA to explore main and interaction effects.
Results: Urban participants reported significantly higher levels of occupational stress and workplace social relationships compared to their rural counterparts. Conversely, rural nurses and midwives demonstrated stronger coping strategies and higher psychological wellbeing. Multivariate analysis confirmed a significant overall effect of location on the combined psychological variables (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.894, F(4, 282) = 8.14, p < .001). Interaction effects indicated that age, years of experience, and professional category further shaped these outcomes, particularly among younger urban nurses and experienced rural midwives.
Conclusion: Geographic location plays a critical role in shaping the psychological health of nurses and midwives in Ghana. Urban staff may benefit from targeted stress-reduction and mentoring interventions, while policies for rural settings should focus on sustaining adaptive coping mechanisms. These findings underscore the need for location-sensitive workforce policies and support systems to promote mental wellbeing in Ghana’s healthcare sector.
Keywords: occupational stress, coping strategies, psychological wellbeing, urban–rural comparison, nurses, midwives, Ghana
Article Details
Section
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.