The CFNU Logo

National Nurse Stress Survey

Trauma and stress don’t end when the shift does.

This survey is now closed. Please stay tuned for results!

WHAT?

The Occupational Stress Injury Survey is the first anonymous Canada-wide assessment of Occupational Stress Injuries (including PTSD) among nurses.

WHO ARE WE?

A mental health research team who recognize nurses can suffer from occupational stress injuries (OSIs) that are too often hidden. With the support of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, and your provincial unions, we have designed this survey to provide you with a voice in the first anonymous Canada-wide assessment of OSIs in nurses. To-date, there has been no national standardized survey data available on the prevalence of occupational stress injuries (including PTSD, depression, and anxiety) amongst nurses. Nor has there been any national attempt to identify risk factors to help inform programs needed to prevent and respond to injuries. The argument has been made that nurses should be included along the public safety continuum (e.g. includes paramedics, firefighters, police) who attend a potentially traumatic event.  Workplace violence, stress, and burnout are widespread features of health care workplaces across Canada, resulting in cumulative trauma. A 2015 Manitoba Nurses Union report found that a quarter of its members consistently experience PTSD symptoms; 53% have experienced critical incident stress. These high prevalence rates are in line with those associated with public safety personnel, and much higher than the lifetime prevalence for the general Canadian population (9.2%). In addition, PTSD prevalence rates for women are also double that for men, and 90% of nurses are female.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions along the way, please feel free contact the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT) research team at andrea.stelnicki@uregina.ca or by telephone at 306-337-2473 (out of town participants may call collect), or if required the Research Ethics Board by email at research.ethics@uregina.ca.