失眠與工作壓力：深度訪談使用安眠藥物的女性護理人員

Objectives: This study explored the social context of work stress in the narratives of hypnotic-taking nurses about their experiences with insomnia. Methods: Introduced by a friend who works as a nurse, the researcher interviewed 25 female nursing staff with insomnia and hypnotic medication, with their consent. Results: Participants cited stress in work as the primary causal agent in their development of insomnia. The major working conditions causing insomnia included exhausting shift work, distressing cognitive labor and neglected emotion labor. Apart from stress at work, 5 participants mentioned stress in domestic care as another factor affecting their sleep. Interviewees took hypnotics irregularly when insomnia disturbed their performance at work. They learned about hypnotic medication through multiple channels and took dosage according to their needs. Conclusions: The shortage of nursing workforce, resulting from cost control and profit orientation in hospital management, was the key stress factor at work for the interviewees. Intensive work made the nursing staff unable to get enough rest and induced sleep disorders. Although the Labor Standards Act is supposed to be applied to nursing staff, most hospitals do not fully comply with it. The government should enforce inspection of labor conditions so that the working conditions of nursing staff can be improved. The sleep behaviors of 5 interviewees were affected by their social roles, gender expectations, and stressful domestic care. This study showed that sleep patterns of nursing staff are shaped by social context and culture. Furthermore, the interviewees took hypnotics to maintain their daily performance at work. Hypnotic medication was not only a consideration based on profession opinion but also a response to the social context.