Introduction: Job stress and health status of employees are effective on efficiency and quality of their services. Mental health status of midwives is very important in offering health and medical services to two vulnerable groups including mothers and infants; therefore the evaluation of effective factors on this issue seems to be necessary. This study was performed to determine the relationship between mental health and job stress among midwives who were working in hospitals of Kerman, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 74 midwives who were working in public and private hospitals of Kerman, Iran, 2011. Sampling method was census. Goldberg mental health and Altmeyer job stress standard questionnaires were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16 and descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test and chi-square test. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: There was a statistical significant relationship between mental health and job stress among midwives (p<0.05).29 midwives (39.2%) were mentally healthy. 45 midwives (60.8%) had some degree of mental disorder and 30 midwives among them (66.7%) were working in public hospitals and 15 midwives (33.3%) were working in private hospitals. Also, 1 person (1.3%) of midwives had mild stress, 60 midwives (81.1%) had moderate stress and 13 midwives (17.6%) suffered from severe stress.
Conclusion: Job stress can cause mental disorders in midwives. Also, midwives who were working in public hospitals are more exposed to job stress than midwives were working in private hospitals.