Somatic symptoms, perceived stress and perceived job satisfaction among nurses working in an Indian psychiatric hospital

High stress perception by nurses caring for psychiatric patients can lead to somatic symptoms which impact on their job satisfaction perception. To assess and correlate the level of somatic symptoms, perceived stress and perceived job satisfaction among the subjects. The authors used a descriptive correlation design to invite 150 nurses of both genders working for more than one year with psychiatric patients. The Scale for Assessment of Somatic Symptoms (Chaturvedi et al., 1987) and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for stress and job satisfaction perception were used to collect data. The nurses (128) reported mainly pain related (4.87 ± 2.97) somatic symptoms. Somatic symptoms positively correlated (r = 0.302) with stress perception and negatively correlated (r = −0.231) with perceived job satisfaction, while perceived stress and perceived job satisfaction were negatively correlated (r = −0.460, p = 0.000). The results indicate a need for stress management interventions.