The nursing profession is very stressful. Nurses are exposed to several occupational hazards including psychosocial hazards. However, Botswana currently does not have a national OSH policy that promotes occupational safety and health (OHS) among workers.

This study therefore was aimed to determine the prevalence of occupational stress symptoms, before exploring the determinants of occupational stress among nurses in Serowe, Botswana.

Data were collected from 301 nurses who work in the different health facilities in Serowe between July-October, 2021, before employing a negative binomial regression technique to explore the determinants of occupational stress. The results show that the majority of nurses experienced several stress symptoms including back pain, headache when at work, tiredness without significant work, neck and shoulder rigidity, sleeping problems, forgetfulness, mood changes, lack of concentration, and short temper.

In conclusion, introduction of occupational stress intervention strategies to address the health and wellbeing of nurses is therefore necessary. Moreover, regional and national policy discussions should be encouraged in order to realize the development and implementation of national OHS policy that will ensure the constitutionality of a fair and safe working environment.

Speaker

Patrick Owili, PhD, PhD, currently coordinates several projects at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) including the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) program on Capacity Development of Applied Epidemiologists, the UN Women-WHO joint program on Capacity Development Strategy to Enhance Capacities of National Institutions to Collect Violence Against Women data, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) program on the Multimorbidity in Africa: Digital Innovation, Visualisation and Application Research Hub, and the APHRC projects on Transitioning to Virtual Academy.
 
Patrick earned his Ph.D. degrees from the School of Medicine at National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan. His first Ph.D. was in Public Health, while his second Ph.D. was in Environmental Science and Technology with an emphasis on Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences.
 
Prior to joining APHRC, Patrick served as a Senior Lecturer and a Program Coordinator MSc in Global Health and Master of Public Health programs at the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton in Kenya. He has also served as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Diaconia University of Applied Sciences and Arcada University of Applied Sciences both in Helsinki, Finland and the Adventist University of Africa and Kabarak University both in Kenya.