Investigating the impact of virtual stress management education on the occupational stress of healthcare providers in Bushehr City: An application of self-efficacy theory

Introduction: Healthcare workers, who work at the frontline of providing health services, are at risk of occupational stress due to several conditions. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effects of virtual training based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory on occupational stress of healthcare workers in Bushehr, Iran. Material & Methods: This semi-experimental study was conducted on 63 healthcare workers in Bushehr city in 10 comprehensive healthcare centers randomly selected as intervention and control centers (n=5 each). The intervention group received four sessions of virtual training based on self-efficacy theory in the form of a webinar, while the control group received no training. The information of the studied subjects was collected using a questionnaire consisting of four sections, namely demographic information assessment, self-efficacy assessment, and occupational stress assessment before, two weeks, and one month after the educational intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24. Findings: In general, knowledge and self-efficacy increased in the intervention group after training, and changes in knowledge and self-efficacy were significantly different between the two groups during the study period (P