Contribution of Character Strengths to Psychology Stress, Sleep Quality, and Subjective Health Status in a Sample of Chinese Nurses.

The main objectives of this study were to describe the current state of character strengths (CSs) of nurses; explain how they affect stress, sleep quality, and subjective health status; and reveal the mediating role of stress for the subject matter on the association between CSs, sleep quality, and subjective health status. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from September to October 2020 in China. A multistage stratified sampling method was used, and 1,221 valid questionnaires across 100 cities in 31 provinces were collected. For the participants in this survey, the three dimensions of CSs ranging from high to low were caring (4.20 ± 0.640), self-control (3.53 ± 0.763), and inquisitiveness (3.37 ± 0.787). There was difference in CSs scores across age ( = 8.171, < 0.01), professional categories ( = 5.545, < 0.01), and job tenure ( = 9.470, < 0.01). The results showed that CSs significantly affected the psychological stress (β = -0.365, < ), sleep quality (β = 0.312, < ), and subjective health (β = 0.398, < ) of nurses. Moreover, psychological stress partially mediated the association between CSs and both types of health outcomes. In China, the CSs of nurses are at high levels. We find that nurses with high-level CSs are likely to experience less psychological stress and exhibit healthy psycho-physiological responses, which contribute to positive health outcomes. Finally, our study argues that strength-based interventions of positive psychology in hospitals should be provided to minimize threats to the physical and psychological health of health professionals, which is a beneficial choice for future hospital reforms in the domain of occupational health management.