Salivary cortisol, perceived stress and coping strategies: A comparative study of working and nonworking women

Wegdan Bani-Issa; Hadia Radwan; Arwa Al Shujairi; Heba Hijazi; Rabah M. Al Abdi; Shamsa Al Awar; Roba Saqan; Mohamad Alameddine; Ali Ibrahim; Hanif Abdul Rahman; Lin Naing

doi:10.1111/jonm.13697

Salivary cortisol, perceived stress and coping strategies: A comparative study of working and nonworking women

Wegdan Bani-Issa, Hadia Radwan, Arwa Al Shujairi, Heba Hijazi, Rabah M. Al Abdi, Shamsa Al Awar, Roba Saqan, Mohamad Alameddine, Ali Ibrahim, Hanif Abdul Rahman, Lin Naing

Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Aims: This study investigated stress levels and coping strategies among working and nonworking women in the United Arab Emirates. Background: Stress levels in working and nonworking women have previously been studied, but few studies used cortisol to measure stress or examined how coping strategies affect stress levels. Methods: We employed a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of women aged 20–65 years. Information on women's sociodemographic characteristics, perceived stress (using the Perceived Stress Scale) and coping strategies (using the Brief-COPE) was collected. Participants' morning (07:00–08:00) and evening (19:00–20:00) cortisol levels were measured using unstimulated saliva samples. Results: In total, 417 working and 403 nonworking women participated in this study. More nonworking women reported high stress levels than working women (14.1% vs. 4.1%, p =.001). Working women reported more use of informational support and venting to cope with stress compared with nonworking women (94.0% vs. 88.1%, p =.001). More nonworking women had impaired morning (<0.094 mg/dl) and evening (>0.359 mg/dl) cortisol compared with working women (58.1% vs. 28.5% and 41.7% vs. 18.0%, respectively). Compared with working women, nonworking women had 3.25 (95%CI: 2.38, 4.47) and 3.78 (95%CI: 2.65, 5.43) times the odds of impaired morning and evening cortisol, respectively. Conclusion: Nonworking women exhibited higher levels of stress than working women. There is an urgent need to support nonworking women to manage stress through appropriate awareness campaigns and public health policies. Implications for Management: Policymakers and community leaders should consider the mental health of nonworking women as a priority in planning public health policies and programmes. Nurse managers must have a voice in reforming public health policy to support early assessment and management of stress among nonworking women.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3553-3567
Number of pages	15
Journal	Journal of Nursing Management
Volume	30
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13697
Publication status	Published - Oct 2022

Keywords

evening cortisol
mental health screening
morning cortisol
nonworking women-coping strategies
perceived stress
working women

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Leadership and Management

Access to Document

10.1111/jonm.13697

Cite this

@article{18190a1b941f40ba91ead2f5a642cb64,

title = "Salivary cortisol, perceived stress and coping strategies: A comparative study of working and nonworking women",

abstract = "Aims: This study investigated stress levels and coping strategies among working and nonworking women in the United Arab Emirates. Background: Stress levels in working and nonworking women have previously been studied, but few studies used cortisol to measure stress or examined how coping strategies affect stress levels. Methods: We employed a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of women aged 20–65 years. Information on women's sociodemographic characteristics, perceived stress (using the Perceived Stress Scale) and coping strategies (using the Brief-COPE) was collected. Participants' morning (07:00–08:00) and evening (19:00–20:00) cortisol levels were measured using unstimulated saliva samples. Results: In total, 417 working and 403 nonworking women participated in this study. More nonworking women reported high stress levels than working women (14.1% vs. 4.1%, p =.001). Working women reported more use of informational support and venting to cope with stress compared with nonworking women (94.0% vs. 88.1%, p =.001). More nonworking women had impaired morning (<0.094 mg/dl) and evening (>0.359 mg/dl) cortisol compared with working women (58.1% vs. 28.5% and 41.7% vs. 18.0%, respectively). Compared with working women, nonworking women had 3.25 (95%CI: 2.38, 4.47) and 3.78 (95%CI: 2.65, 5.43) times the odds of impaired morning and evening cortisol, respectively. Conclusion: Nonworking women exhibited higher levels of stress than working women. There is an urgent need to support nonworking women to manage stress through appropriate awareness campaigns and public health policies. Implications for Management: Policymakers and community leaders should consider the mental health of nonworking women as a priority in planning public health policies and programmes. Nurse managers must have a voice in reforming public health policy to support early assessment and management of stress among nonworking women.",

keywords = "evening cortisol, mental health screening, morning cortisol, nonworking women-coping strategies, perceived stress, working women",

author = "Wegdan Bani-Issa and Hadia Radwan and {Al Shujairi}, Arwa and Heba Hijazi and {Al Abdi}, {Rabah M.} and {Al Awar}, Shamsa and Roba Saqan and Mohamad Alameddine and Ali Ibrahim and Rahman, {Hanif Abdul} and Lin Naing",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank study participants and investigators. They would also like to acknowledge data management, biostatistical analysis and scientific writing support provided by KBP-Biomak, a contract research organisation. Special thanks to research assistants from the nursing department for their assistance in data collection. All authors participated in study design, had full access to study data, were closely involved in data analysis and all approved the final content of this manuscript. Funding Information: This work has been supported by funding from Al Jalila Research Foundation/UAE (ID number AJF 201627 to the amount of USD 283,000). Funding information Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

year = "2022",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1111/jonm.13697",

language = "English",

volume = "30",

pages = "3553--3567",

journal = "Journal of Nursing Management",

issn = "0966-0429",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "7",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Salivary cortisol, perceived stress and coping strategies

T2 - A comparative study of working and nonworking women

AU - Bani-Issa, Wegdan

AU - Radwan, Hadia

AU - Al Shujairi, Arwa

AU - Hijazi, Heba

AU - Al Abdi, Rabah M.

AU - Al Awar, Shamsa

AU - Saqan, Roba

AU - Alameddine, Mohamad

AU - Ibrahim, Ali

AU - Rahman, Hanif Abdul

AU - Naing, Lin

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank study participants and investigators. They would also like to acknowledge data management, biostatistical analysis and scientific writing support provided by KBP-Biomak, a contract research organisation. Special thanks to research assistants from the nursing department for their assistance in data collection. All authors participated in study design, had full access to study data, were closely involved in data analysis and all approved the final content of this manuscript. Funding Information: This work has been supported by funding from Al Jalila Research Foundation/UAE (ID number AJF 201627 to the amount of USD 283,000). Funding information Publisher Copyright: © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2022/10

Y1 - 2022/10

N2 - Aims: This study investigated stress levels and coping strategies among working and nonworking women in the United Arab Emirates. Background: Stress levels in working and nonworking women have previously been studied, but few studies used cortisol to measure stress or examined how coping strategies affect stress levels. Methods: We employed a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of women aged 20–65 years. Information on women's sociodemographic characteristics, perceived stress (using the Perceived Stress Scale) and coping strategies (using the Brief-COPE) was collected. Participants' morning (07:00–08:00) and evening (19:00–20:00) cortisol levels were measured using unstimulated saliva samples. Results: In total, 417 working and 403 nonworking women participated in this study. More nonworking women reported high stress levels than working women (14.1% vs. 4.1%, p =.001). Working women reported more use of informational support and venting to cope with stress compared with nonworking women (94.0% vs. 88.1%, p =.001). More nonworking women had impaired morning (<0.094 mg/dl) and evening (>0.359 mg/dl) cortisol compared with working women (58.1% vs. 28.5% and 41.7% vs. 18.0%, respectively). Compared with working women, nonworking women had 3.25 (95%CI: 2.38, 4.47) and 3.78 (95%CI: 2.65, 5.43) times the odds of impaired morning and evening cortisol, respectively. Conclusion: Nonworking women exhibited higher levels of stress than working women. There is an urgent need to support nonworking women to manage stress through appropriate awareness campaigns and public health policies. Implications for Management: Policymakers and community leaders should consider the mental health of nonworking women as a priority in planning public health policies and programmes. Nurse managers must have a voice in reforming public health policy to support early assessment and management of stress among nonworking women.

AB - Aims: This study investigated stress levels and coping strategies among working and nonworking women in the United Arab Emirates. Background: Stress levels in working and nonworking women have previously been studied, but few studies used cortisol to measure stress or examined how coping strategies affect stress levels. Methods: We employed a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of women aged 20–65 years. Information on women's sociodemographic characteristics, perceived stress (using the Perceived Stress Scale) and coping strategies (using the Brief-COPE) was collected. Participants' morning (07:00–08:00) and evening (19:00–20:00) cortisol levels were measured using unstimulated saliva samples. Results: In total, 417 working and 403 nonworking women participated in this study. More nonworking women reported high stress levels than working women (14.1% vs. 4.1%, p =.001). Working women reported more use of informational support and venting to cope with stress compared with nonworking women (94.0% vs. 88.1%, p =.001). More nonworking women had impaired morning (<0.094 mg/dl) and evening (>0.359 mg/dl) cortisol compared with working women (58.1% vs. 28.5% and 41.7% vs. 18.0%, respectively). Compared with working women, nonworking women had 3.25 (95%CI: 2.38, 4.47) and 3.78 (95%CI: 2.65, 5.43) times the odds of impaired morning and evening cortisol, respectively. Conclusion: Nonworking women exhibited higher levels of stress than working women. There is an urgent need to support nonworking women to manage stress through appropriate awareness campaigns and public health policies. Implications for Management: Policymakers and community leaders should consider the mental health of nonworking women as a priority in planning public health policies and programmes. Nurse managers must have a voice in reforming public health policy to support early assessment and management of stress among nonworking women.

KW - evening cortisol

KW - mental health screening

KW - morning cortisol

KW - nonworking women-coping strategies

KW - perceived stress

KW - working women

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JO - Journal of Nursing Management

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Salivary cortisol, perceived stress and coping strategies: A comparative study of working and nonworking women

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