Middle management stress and role strain in the outpatient physical rehabilitative services field: A mixed methods study.

摘要

Increased emphasis on cost effectiveness within today's healthcare industry places departmental managers in a difficult situation. They find themselves accountable to pressures from stakeholders both within and outside of their organization. This conflicting situation wherein the middle manager is asked to meet two contrasting sets of expectations often leads to frustration in their occupational role and the manifestation of role strain.;The early phases of this research featured nominal and focus groups with a total of 30 middle managers participating. This qualitative data was then used to construct a valid survey instrument, which was distributed to 542 middle managers working in the outpatient physical rehabilitation. A total of 182 surveys were returned (33.6% return rate). The data was analyzed using ordinary least squares regression analysis techniques to investigate relationships among variables.;The data was convincing in its support that middle managers do experience role strain as a result of their day-to-day responsibilities. It appears from the data that the primary source of this strain is incompatibility between the expectations of the administration, the staff; and the patients. It was also quite evident that the amount of time spent actually treating patients and issues within the family of the OPRS manager significantly impacted their ability to cope with workplace stress.;Role strain within healthcare organizations could be greatly limited by providing middle managers with leadership training, adequate resources, and support from all areas within the organization. Organizational goals should remain patient-centered allowing OPRS middle managers to create for themselves a comfortable balance of managerial responsibilities and patient load.;My purpose in this research was to assess the presence of role strain at the middle management level within the outpatient physical rehabilitative services (OPRS) field and to determine what factors within the individual's personal life and/or work environment influence their ability to cope with stress I used a mixed methods approach with three distinct phases of data collection. I took full advantage of qualitative research early in the process to help frame issues within a real life sociological context and thereby more accurately identify independent, dependent, and potential intervening variables.