OBJECTIVE: To describe the stress level and the use of sleeping pills among registered nurses and to examine the relationships among stress, sleep quality, and the use of sleeping pills. METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive comparative study used a sample of 203 registered nurses from a major hospital in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Data were collected with the Bianchi Stress Scale-Revised and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. RESULTS: A great number of the sample of registered nurses (17.7%) used sleeping pills. Among those, 48.6 had higher level of alertness and stress (p = .016) and a great number of them (n =36) had worse sleep quality score. CONCLUSION: Registered nurses who used sleeping pills also had higher levels of stress and worse sleep quality.
Stress; Sleep disorders; Nurses; Shift work; Anti-anxiety agents
