Correlating Healthcare Staff’s Stress Level and Cybersecurity Practices in Norway

This paper examines the relationship between stress levels and cybersecurity practices among hospital employees in Norway. As the healthcare sector increasingly uses technology to improve patient care, hospital data became more vulnerable to cyber attacks and the human factor remains a significant vulnerability that can be exploited by hackers. Stress is one such factor that can affect cybersecurity practices. This study hypothesized that employees with higher stress levels are more likely to engage in risky security practices. An online survey was conducted to collect data on demographic details, stress levels, and cybersecurity practices of healthcare staff. Respondents’ stress levels were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and hospital staff’s hazardous cybersecurity practices were evaluated using the Hospital Staff’s Risky Cybersecurity Practices Scale (HS-RCPS). Regarding cybersecurity practices, the results show that hospital workers in Norway tend to have good cybersecurity practices. Our findings also indicate that there is no significant correlation between stress levels and cybersecurity practices (r=0.101). In addition, demographic variables including gender, age, position, and position level did not have a significant impact on healthcare professionals’ dangerous cybersecurity activities. However, years of working experience were found to be a crucial factor in determining cybersecurity practices among hospital employees ( F(3, 38) = 3.146, p = 0.036) with staff who had more than 25 years of work experience getting the highest average HS-RCPS score.