Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Healthcare professionals are prone to stress and workload pressures which have a negative impact on their psychological well-being. This study was aimed at investigatiing whether there were differencies in stress, workload and psychological well-being between genders and also between healthcare sectors in Cameroon. Lastly, to determine if there was an association between stress, workload and psychological wellbeing among healthcare professionals in Cameroon. A cross-sectional onsite study was carried out among healthcare professionals working with either the private or the public healthcare sector in Cameroon. Analytical approaches were descriptive analysis, chi-square test of independence and logistic regression.
The results showed that male healthcare professionals experienced higher stress levels compared to females, while workload and wellbeing were higher among female healthcare professionals compared to males. Stress and workload were higher among those working with the private healthcare sector compared to those working with the public sector. Wellbeing was higher among those working with the public sector comared to those working with the private sector. There was a strong positive significant association between high stress, high workload and low psychological wellbeing which remained after controlling for age, gender, marital status, healthcare sector, working unit, working shift, experience, specialty and working hours.
The ecological model was used to discuss the results. It was concluded that stress level significantly differed in both male and female healthcare professionals in this study. It was however higher in males than in females which can be attributed to differencies in responsibilities. There was also a significant difference in stress level between healthcare sectors. Those working with the private sector experienced higher stress levels compared to those working with the public. Finally, there was a strong positive significant association between high stress, high workload and low psychological wellbeing which remained after controlling the selected covariates in this study. This implies that, high stress, high workload and low psychological wellbeing among healthcare professionals in this study was not confounded by age, gender, marital status, healthcare sector, working unit, working shift, experience, specialty and working hours.
2021.