The relationship between conflict management styles used by nurse managers in psychiatric clinics and the stress level of their subordinates

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the opinions of nurses working in psychiatric wards regarding their managers' conflict management styles and their self-perceived stress levels. Methods: This was a descriptive, comparative, and correlational study. The population consisted of 580 nurses working in psychiatric clinics of public and private hospitals in Istanbul, and 199 nurses were included in the sample. The "Personal Information Form," "Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory–II (ROCI-II) Form A," and "Perceived Stress Scale" were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage distributions, the Kruskal–Wallis test, Spearman correlation analysis, and the Mann–Whitney U test. Results: The participants’ mean scores on the Conflict Management Scale were as follows: integration subscale 2.50±0.90; obliging subscale 3.03±0.74; dominating subscale 2.92±0.85; avoiding subscale 2.98±0.66; and compromising subscale 2.61±0.83. The mean score of the Perceived Stress Scale was 13.78±4.74. The mean score for the perceived stress subdimension was 4.49±2.04, and for the perceived coping subdimension was 9.30±3.45. A statistically significant, weak positive correlation was found between the perceived stress subdimension and the dominating subscale, while a weak negative correlation was observed with the compromising and integration subdimensions. A weak negative correlation was also found between the perceived coping subdimension and the integration, obliging, and compromising subdimensions. Conclusion: According to the nurses, their managers most frequently use obliging, avoiding, dominating, compromising, and integration styles, respectively, in conflict management. As managers’ use of compromising and integration styles increases, the nurses’ perceived stress levels decrease.