Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of the perceived stress and perceived professional benefits on mental health of nurses in departments of mammary oncology. Methods Totally 102 registered nurses from 6 de-partments of mammary oncology of a tertiary hospital in Henan province were investigated by the Perceived Stress Scale(PSS),Nurses’ Perceived Professional Benefits Questionnaire and 12-item General Health Questionnaire(GHQ-12).Results The perceived stress was negatively correlated with perceived professional benefits (r=-0.398,P<0.001).The perceived stress was positively correlated with GHQ-12 score (r=0.342,P<0.001). The perceived professional benefit was negatively correlated with GHQ-12 score(r=-0.396,P<0.001). The perceived professional benefits played a partial mediating role between perceived stress and GHQ-12 score,accounting for 40.7% of the total effects.Conclusion Nursing administrators should take actions to improve nurses’ perceived stress and perceived profes-sional benefits to finally improve their mental health.

Key words: Breast Cancer, Nurses, Perceived stress, Perceived professional benefits, Mental health