Job strain is a long-standing problem for nurses and care workers irrespective of nationality, type of nursing training, area or type of clinical or nonclinical work. Nurses and care workers are stressful jobs, as they are characterized by exposure to a wide range of potentially stressful situations and conditions. Job stressors include factors such as excessive or high workloads , irregular and unsocial hours of work, physical tiredness, the emotional demands of dealing with sick patients and their families and with patients whose behaviours are difficult, and lack of staff support, uncertainty concerning treatment, conflict with other nurses, supervisors and medical staff, dealing with death and dying, management difficulties, issues involving patient care, concerns about technical knowledge and skills.
There is a clear need for awareness raising, prevention measures and individual or group intervention patterns for coping with burn out. The long-term aim of the project is to develop counselling techniques and training methods and contents to support nurses and care workers prevent and cope with burn out. This is to be achieved by exchange of experience, good practices, case studies, awareness campaign implemented by the 6 organizations providing training to or involved in other activities with nurse and care workers from the 5 countries – Romania, Italy, Turkey, Czech Republic and Poland. The results of the project will be: awareness raising on the need to prevent and control burn out effects, a curricula and handbook on burn out prevention and control, a piloted training course, the project journal, project results dissemination.