Introduction. Nurses often experience work-related stress. High stress can negatively affect job satisfaction and lead to emotional exhaustion with risk of burnout. Aim. To analyse possible differences in biological stress markers, psychosocial working conditions, health, and well-being between nurses working in two different departments. Methods. Stress was evaluated in nurses working in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) ( ) and nurses working in a child and adolescent psychiatry inpatient ward (CAP) ( ) using salivary cortisol and HbA1c. Salivary cortisol was measured three times a day on two consecutive days during two one-week periods, seven weeks apart (=？12 samples/person). Psychosocial working conditions, health, and well-being were measured once. Results. NICU nurses had better social support and more self-determination. CAP nurses had a lower salivary cortisol quotient, poorer general health, and higher client-related burnout scores. Conclusion. When comparing these nurses with existing norm data for Sweden, as a group their scores reflect less work-related stress than Swedes overall. However, the comparison between NICU and CAP nurses indicates a less healthy work situation for CAP nurses. Relevance to Clinical Practice. Healthcare managers need to acknowledge the less healthy work situation CAP nurses experience in order to provide optimal support and promote good health. 1. Introduction Compared with outpatient nursing, perceived stress is higher among nurses working in internal medicine, intensive care, accident and emergency wards, and in paediatrics [1]. Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses are an example of a nursing discipline commonly exposed to high work-related stress [2–4]. Nurses working with psychiatrically ill children and adolescents are exposed to emotional strain, although of a somewhat different nature than the strain faced by nurses working with life-threatening conditions, as in the NICU. Some studies confirm this finding [5–7], but we could not find any studies specifically addressing differences in stress between NICU nurses and nurses involved in inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric care. The stress system coordinates the generalised stress response, which can be defined as the physiological response to environmental demands placed upon the individual [8]. Activation of the stress system initiates behavioural and peripheral changes in order to improve homeostasis. Cortisol modulates the stress response by acting on the hypothalamus to inhibit continued release of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) [9].
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