The purpose of this study was to identify job stress experienced by head nurses of general hospitals.

Data was collected from 10 head nurses with in-depth interviews about their actual experiences. The main questions were when, why, and from whom they get stress in the work field; how they are affected by the stressful situation; and how they cope with this stress. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed. The collected data was analyzed using a consistent comparative data analysis method.

Job stress of head nurse was formed by 3 axis; causes, reactions, and coping strategies in complicated situational context such as human relationship, culture of hospital, individual characteristics, social support.

The results of this study yields very useful information for nursing mangers to identify, by stages, the demands of the head nurses in their role adaptation process. The findings of this study contributes to developing programs and supportive policies that palliates the head nurses' job stress.