Self-awareness: Essential for Stress Coping during Hospital Emergencies among Health Personnel in Bamenda II and III

Abstract

Self-awareness is the building block upon which all elements of emotional intelligence are built. It is very essential for health personnel to gain complete understanding of their emotions and how to relate to other colleagues in order to make good decisions in the face of hospital emergencies effectively. The study sought to examine the influence of self-awareness on stress coping during hospital emergencies among health personnel. The concurrent nested mixed methods approach was used to gather, analyze and synthesize data. Participants constituted 254 health personnel from the Regional Hospital Bamenda, Nkwen District Hospital and the Presbyterian Health Complex in Bamenda II and III health districts. The purposive sampling technique under the non-probability sampling approach was used to select both hospitals and health personnel. A questionnaire was used to collect data and analyzed using descriptive (mean, standard deviation), and inferential statistics (Linear Regression analysis). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participants’ demographic characteristics and levels of self-awareness and stress coping while inferential statistics were applied to test hypotheses and determine the relationship between self-awareness and stress coping among health personnel. Results for descriptive statistics revealed that the mean for self-awareness was 3.63, and the standard deviation was 1.1654. This is not large and thus, it was concluded that the responses were closer to the mean. Inferential results showed that, Self-awareness had a significant influence on stress coping in health personnel during hospital emergencies (R=0.481, R2=0.231, P<0.05). This implies that the acquisition of self-awareness skills among health personnel in Bamenda II and III will enable a better understanding of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors which will in turn help them identify stress triggers and choose effective coping strategies that can help regulate emotional responses to stressful situations and increase resilience during hospital emergencies. It was therefore recommended that health personnel should be encouraged to be proactive in developing emotional intelligence skills of self-awareness and also adopt effective stress-coping strategies to manage workplace stress. If healthcare personnel set out to do so, they will likely experience better adaptation to a high-stress environment and more effective problem-solving. It was therefore concluded that self-awareness is crucial for effective stress coping during hospital emergencies.