Stress can elicit both positive and negative impacts on cognition. Less is known about whether and how daily stressors are associated with perceived cognitive performance in healthcare workers. We examined daily associations between stressors and perceived cognitive performance in nurses and whether these associations differed by age or nursing tenure. Using 14-day smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment, 60 inpatient nurses at a U.S. cancer hospital reported the frequency and severity of daily stressors (e.g., arguments, accidents).Each day, participants subjectively evaluated their mental focus, memory, and processing speed. Multilevel modelling examined the within-and between-person associations of daily stressors with cognitive performance. More stressors were associated with poorer perceived cognitive performance at both within-and between-person levels for both daily stressor frequency and severity. For moderation by age, the within-person stressor severity-cognitive performance relationship was only significant for nurses who were younger, but not for those who were older. Similarly, the within-person associations of daily stressor frequency and severity with cognitive performance were only significant for nurses with a shorter tenure. Findings suggest daily stressors may degrade perceived cognitive performance in nurses and the impact may be stronger for those who are younger or with less experience on the job.
Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) can capture how sleep, stress, and well-being are related within individuals. However, the use of EMA involves participant burden, which may be a major barrier when studying at-risk populations like frontline workers. To guide future research interested in using EMA, this study examined variance components in sleep, stress, and well-being variables collected from health care workers. Two samples of hospital nurses (60 inpatient, 84 outpatient) responded to 2-week smartphone-based EMA. Adherence to the EMA protocol was good in both samples. Results from intraclass correlations showed more momentary variability in stressors and uplifts, more daily variability in sleep, fatigue, and physical symptoms, and more between-person variability in affect, rumination, and work quality. Across the variables, however, there was substantial within-person variability. Variance components were relatively consistent between workdays and non-workdays and between week 1 and week 2. Some nuanced between-sample differences were noted.
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