Resilience, Coping Abilities, and Their Association with Sleep Quality and Perceived Stress Among Nurses in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Nagpur: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Nurses in tertiary care hospitals work in demanding environments characterized by high patient acuity, workload, shift duties, and emotional demands. Sleep disturbance and perceived stress may adversely affect well-being, while resilience and coping strategies may influence how nurses respond to occupational stress. Objective: To assess resilience, coping abilities, sleep quality, and perceived stress among nurses and determine their associations with one another and with selected demographic and work-related characteristics. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive-correlational study was conducted among 123 registered nurses at AIIMS Nagpur between June and December 2025. Participants were selected using non-probability proportionate quota sampling from outpatient departments, wards, and special areas. Data were collected electronically using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and Brief COPE. Data were analysed in Jamovi version 2.6. Spearman rank correlation, Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used after assessment of normality with the Shapiro–Wilk test. Results: 70 nurses (56.9%) had poor sleep quality (PSQI >5); the median PSQI score was 6 (IQR 2). The median PSS-10 score was 18 (IQR 5.5). Mean BRS score was 3.21 (SD 0.49). Resilience was moderately and inversely correlated with perceived stress (ρ=−0.483, p<0.001), but was not significantly correlated with PSQI score (ρ=0.017, p=0.849). Emotion-focused coping was positively correlated with PSQI score (ρ=0.263, p=0.003), whereas problem-focused and avoidant coping were not significantly correlated with PSQI score. Problem-focused coping was inversely correlated with perceived stress (ρ=−0.219, p=0.015), while avoidant (ρ=0.324, p<0.001) and emotion-focused coping (ρ=0.179, p=0.048) were positively correlated with perceived stress. Sleep quality differed significantly by self-reported physical illness (U=267, p=0.046), while no significant associations were observed between perceived stress and the demographic/work-related variables examined. Conclusion: Among nurses in this tertiary care setting, poor sleep quality was common. Higher resilience was associated with lower perceived stress, while coping styles showed domain-specific relationships with stress and sleep. Institutional strategies that strengthen resilience and adaptive coping, alongside attention to sleep health and physical well-being, may be beneficial.