Abstract
The number of job demands and various problems experienced by inpatient wards nurses in undergoing
her / his work as schizophrenia patients’ nurses, resulting a number of nurses experiencing work stress. One
of the factors affected work stress is social support. Purpose: the study aimed to explain the effect of social
support toward work stress, and categorization on the inpatient nurses in Dr. Suharto Heerdjan psychiatric
hospitals. Methods: the study design was causal quantitative with a purposive sampling technique, with
a sample size of 75 people. Social support was measured used social support scale with the amount of
reliability (α) = .942 with 39 items valid. Work stress was measured used work stress scale with the amount
of reliability (α) = .881 with 26 items valid. Based on linear regression, the effect of social support toward
the work stress is Y = 139.385- .445X, sig (p) = .000; p <.05, which means the hypothesis is accepted. Also
known more inpatient wards nurses had high social support and work stress levels compared to those with
low social support and work stress levels.