Work-related stress in outpatient nursing professionals: a phenomenological approach for future research

Baquero D.M.H.; García E.R. · Encuentros (Maracaibo) (2026) · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20940807

Resumen

The objective of this study was to understand work-related stress among nursing staff in the Latin American context, based on the postulates of Giorgi’s phenomenology. This approach establishes a phenomenological framework that involves defining an intersubjective object of study, rather than the clas-sic medical-positivist view that sees stress solely as a pathology. To this end, semi-structured instruments and field observations were applied among nursing staff in the outpatient area of a Surgical Clinical Center during 2023. The concepts and indicators were processed using the aforementioned psycholo-gical-phenomenological criteria. Four main categories were identified: symp-toms of work-related stress, generating factors, resulting effects, and management strategies, subdivided into twenty subcategories and twelve units of meaning. The findings demonstrate that work-related stress is far from being a problem associated with isolated variables such as “work overload” and co-rresponds to a problem of the meaning of work and the self-definition of the individual. It is shown that public health management, and its hierarchical di-rectives, involve processes of alienation from the physical, rational, and emo-tional potential of the staff, thereby weakening the individual’s sense of self.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Trujillo