Gender differences among cancer nurses' stress perception and coping: An Italian single centre observational study

Objectives: The literature on gender differences in stress perception and coping has been produced diverse results, and there is a shortage of studies on this topic among cancer nurses. For this reason, the aim of this study was to describe the gender differences related to cancer nurses' stress perception and coping. Methods: This study had a cross-sectional design, using a secondary data analysis on dataset (sample = 126 cancer nurses, 74% females). The stress perception and the coping strategies were assessed using Burnout Potential Inventory (BPI) and Health Profession Stress and Coping Scale, nurses' version (HPSCS). Results: Female cancer nurses perceived more stress from personal attacks than males. Indeed, female over 45 years had a significant higher perception of stress, but they used the request for social support (functional coping) as a coping strategy more than males. Conclusions: Our results could help to clearly understand what are the main gender differences in coping and in perceiving stress among Italian cancer nurses, and to incentive more research.