The Role of Bright Light during Night Work on Stressand Health Status of Shift Work Nurses

Research has shown that shift work, in particular night work, can have negative effects on the health, safety and well-being of workers. Our study assessed, in a hospital setting, the effects of bright light (BL) on general health and psychological problems during night shift work. In an experimental design, 15 female nurses at a general hospital that located in Tehran were exposed to moderate bright light (2000 lx) during night work. The evaluation of general health status, job stress, and burnout syndrome conditions was done as follows: The 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used as a screening tool for the detection of general health status; for assessing the level of stress, perception stress scale (PSS) was filled; and for burnout syndrome conditions, burnout self-report questionnaire (BSR) was completed. T-test and paired t-test analysis were used to assess the association between BL exposure for a total of 30 min during each night shift and changes in general health status, job stress and burnout syndrome. This study clearly shows that BL administration could not reduce anxiety symptoms, somatic symptoms, severe depression and improved socialdysfunction significantly during night shift. However, BL exposure significantly decreased the perception stress (P=0.008) and burnout syndrome (P=0.06) during night permanent shift. These results suggest that BL mighthave provoked changes inperception stress and burnout syndrome ofnurses working night permanent shift.