STUDY ON IMPORTANCE OF WORK STRESS MANAGEMENT WORKSHOPS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG CLINICAL LABORATORY PROFESSIONALS

Clinical laboratory professionals form the backbone of modern health care system. Work stress affects the overall physical and mental wellbeing of clinical laboratory professionals and their productivity. Long term untreated stress can lead to complications including cardiovascular diseases, mental illness, and musculoskeletal disorders. The objective of the study was to assess the work stress among clinical laboratory professionals, evaluate the work stress coping strategies, and to assess how effectively they get support in dealing with stress with the help of stress management programmes. Methods: A total of 228 clinical laboratory professionals have taken part in the study. The study period was from 15 th April 2023-24 th April 2023. Snowball sampling technique was used where online survey questionnaire developed using The Workplace Stress Scale™ was shared and the data were analyzed. Two more questions were included in the study to know the coping strategies used by clinical laboratory professionals to manage work stress and how effectively work stress management workshops/programmes are used to monitor and resolve work stress and reduce or eliminate stress at the workplace. Results: Out of 228 participants, 43.85 % experienced fairly low stress to no stress whereas 39.47 % percentage of participants reported moderate stress and 16.66 % of the participant experienced severe stress out of which 2.19% had stress level which is potentially dangerous and should seek professional assistance which suggests that workplace stress is present among clinical laboratory professionals. Most of the participants in the study were females 164 (71.93%) 42.69% experienced fairly low to no stress,40.24% reported moderate stress,17.07% experienced severe stress including 1.22% having potentially dangerous stress. Out of 64 (28.07%) males, 46.88 % had fairly low to no stress,37.5% had moderate stress ,15.63% had severe stress out of which 4.69% had potentially dangerous stress levels. Interpretation and Conclusion: Employees need to develop coping mechanisms to reduce stress at work. Work stress coping strategies should be employed at management and individual levels to reduce the work-related stress. Organizations must conduct workshops on stress management, motivation, and education to assist clinical laboratory professionals in handling their work-related stress professionally.