Role of Emotion Regulation as a Buffer against Workplace Stress among Nurses during COVID-19

The present study examined the relationship between workplace stress and job satisfaction among nurses along with exploring the moderating role of emotional regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 120 (n=60 male, n=60 female) nurses were approached from different public and private hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The Workplace Stress Scale, The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire were used to assess workplace stress, job satisfaction, and emotion regulation abilities among nurses. Pearson product-moment correlation and Linear regression analysis were carried out to measure the relationship of workplace stress with job satisfaction and the moderating effect of emotion regulation, respectively. Findings of the study revealed that workplace stress is negatively associated with job satisfaction among nurses. Moreover, moderation analysis indicated that cognitive reappraisal significantly moderated the relationship between workplace stress and job satisfaction. Other key findings of the study indicated that female nurses were higher on workplace stress and used cognitive reappraisal as compared to male nurses who used expressive suppression. Moreover, married nurses were higher on workplace stress as compared to unmarried nurses. Public sector nurses were higher on job satisfaction. The findings of the study suggest that there is a strong need to reduce workplace stress by developing healthy emotion regulation strategies to increase the level of job satisfaction among nurses, especially during this pandemic environment.