PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS DEBRIEFING BY AUSTRALIAN NURSES

Abstract

This paper examines the perceived effectiveness of stress debriefing by a sample of 129 Australian hospital nurses and the relationship of their perceptions to demographic variables such as qualifications and work area. The survey generally showed debriefing as helpful, but lack of helpfulness was also recognised because of time taken from personal lives and adverse group processes. Factor analysis identified five scales; three helpful (‘Understanding’, ‘Sharing’ , and ‘Cohesion’) and two, unhelpful (‘Procedure’ and ‘Dynamics’). Results suggested that helpfulness of debriefing was unrelated to demographic differences. Although further research is required to replicate these findings, they suggest that replacing the current ad hoc forms of debriefing available at the hospital with a standardised model would overcome shortcomings identified by respondents.