The exposure to occupational stress is an important cause for the occurrence of the burnout syndrome (Schaufeli, W. B., Maslach, C., Marek,1993; Maslach, C., Leiter, M. P., 1997).

The research objectives are identifying the level of stress in psychiatric nurses and analyzing the relationship between stress and the classifying variables: age, gender and length of service.

The research group consists of 33 nurses with a minimal length of service of 24 months. Each nurse was assessed with two tests: the Perception of Stress test (T. Hindle 2001), containing a total of 32 items with answers given on a scale from 1 to 4, and the Psychological Symptoms Scale” (V. Birkhenbil, 2000), including 29 symptoms that occur often, regularly or constantly in a person under stress.

The perceived level of stress and its psychological symptoms are emphasized with growing age, due to life events and increased responsibilities. The female gender is more often affected by stress, coping mechanisms having a special role in the differences between the two genders. The length of service is also a factor that increases stress levels in psychiatric healthcare; professional dissatisfaction, routine and increased demands being a major source of stress.

The predictors for the onset of the burnout syndrome revealed by our research were: the age and length of service in the field, as well as the female gender of the psychiatric staff nurses. These results have served as the basis for developing an occupational stress intervention protocol.