Sources and mitigation strategies for stress among health care workers in Central Hospital, Benin City: Exploring the role of AI-driven interventions

Health care workers face unprecedented levels of stress, burn-out and fatigue, compromising their wellbeing and the quality of care they provide. This study therefore aimed to identify the sources and mitigation strategies for stress among healthcare workers, focusing on the emerging role of AI-driven interventions. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of 363 healthcare workers at Central Hospital, Benin City. Proportionate sampling technique was employed to select 50% of the workers drawn from across various professional cadres, to give of total 182 respondents (Doctors (38), Nurses (54), Pharmacist (18) Laboratory technicians (24) Others (48). The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire designed to elicit information on the sources and mitigation strategies for stress among health care workers. The reliability of the instrument which yielded a coefficient of 0.83 was established using the test-retest method. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that healthcare workers at Central Hospital, Benin city experience high levels of stress arising from multiple workplace-related and emotional factors such heavy workload (3.51), inadequate resources and poor work-life balance (3.59). While various traditional coping mechanisms such as exercise (2.85) and peer support (3.32) are currently employed to manage stress, the lack of institutional support (2.41) as well as absence of well-structured programmes (3.65) significantly limited the effectiveness of these strategies. The findings revealed a critical need for organizational interventions, such as leadership involvement and structured wellness programmmes such as AI-powered chatbots and mindfulness programmes to compliment personal efforts and promote overall staff well-being. Enhancing stress management in the hospital is vital to improving employee satisfaction, retention, and ultimately the quality of patient care delivered.