Factors contributing to stress among child care givers in Kenya: A case of selected children homes in eldoret town

Stress has become an important term in everyday language, meaningful to most individuals found in industrial societies. It not only describes a range of “pains and aches” or as Cartwright and Cooper (1997:1) puts it ‘a vague yet often a sense of disquiet’, but a legitimate concern in our modern way of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors that contribute to stress among child care givers in Kenya especially in children Homes in Eldoret. A descriptive research design was adopted. Under it, survey method was used to solicit information. Data was collected using questionnaires. The sampling procedure adopted in this study was purposive, proportionate and systematic random sampling. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Output was presented in the form of pie charts, graphs and frequency tables. The salient findings were that stress is inevitable at the place of work. Job satisfaction, fatigue, low productivity, headache and tension are the effects of stress experienced by the staff; task demand, organizational structure, organizational leadership and role demand are organizational factors contributing to stress among child care givers; economic problems was an individual factor contributing to stress among child care takers in children’s homes while economic and political uncertainties are environmental factors contributing to stress among staff in children homes. The study recommended that staff be trained on ways of coping with stress, staff to be given payment which is worth work done and that the government to fund the children homes to some extent to ensure its sustenance.