A sense of coherence and the health of professionally active nurses

Introduction. From the salutogenetic perspective, health is a bipolar continuum health–sickness, in which the current position of a given
person is determined mainly by the strength of his/her sense of coherence.
Aim of the study. The main aim of the study was to try to determine the relation between the sense of coherence and the general mental
state in the group of nurses subjected to the study.

Material and methods. Ninety one persons (1 man and 90 women) were subjected to the study, who differed in terms of age, marital
status, education and work system. The study employed the Polish adaptation of the Life Orientation Questionnaire by Antonovsky to
measure the sense of coherence and the General Health Questionnaire by Goldberg to subjectively assess mental health.

Results. In the assessment of the mental health of the nurses subjected to the study, a mediocre result was obtained. It was stated that there
is a statistically significant relation between the global level of the sense of coherence and its components (the level of the sense of comprehensibility,
manageability and meaning) and the health of nurses subjected to the study. Persons with a high sense of coherence show
considerably less symptoms: somatic disorders (scale A), anxiety, insomnia (scale B), functioning disorders (scale C), depression (scale D)
than the persons with a low sense of coherence.
Conclusions:

1. There is a diverse level of the sense of coherence in the group subjected to the study.

2. The overall level of health condition in nurses in average. They present both somatic and functonal disorders.

3. The strength of the global sense of coherence has a significant impact on the mental health of the nurses subjected to the study.

Nursing Topics 2010; 18 (2): 139-144