The relationship between socio-demographic variables, job stressors, burnout, and hardy personality in nurses: an exploratory study

BACKGROUND

Nursing is considered as a risk profession with high levels of stress and burnout, and these levels are probably increasing.

OBJECTIVES

A model of prediction of burnout in nursing that includes socio-demographic variables, job stressors, and personal vulnerability, or resistance, is proposed.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional correlational design was used. A sample of 473 nurses and student nurses in practice from three General Hospitals in Madrid (Spain) completed the "Nursing Burnout Scale". The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression.

RESULTS

The proposed model is a good predictor of the diverse burnout sub-dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and lack of personal accomplishment. Significant predictors of burnout included age, job status, job stressors (workload, experience with pain and death, conflictive interaction, and role ambiguity), and hardy personality (commitment, control, and challenge).

CONCLUSIONS

Identifying an integrative process of burnout among nurses is an essential step to develop effective managerial strategies so as to reduce the burnout problem. Specifically, the present study suggests that intervention aimed at reducing the risk for burnout may achieve better results if it includes enhancement of workers' hardy personality rather than just decreasing environmental stressors.

Violence and abuse in psychiatric in-patient institutions: a South African perspective

Institutionalisation of psychiatric patients was a prevalent treatment approach in the apartheid era of South Africa. Allegations of violence and abuse towards patients frequently arose during this time. The post-apartheid Department of Health prioritised improvements in mental health care by recommending, inter alia, deinstitutionalisation and reintegration of patients into the community. Ten years later, these interventions have proved difficult to institute and many patients are still hospitalised. The present study investigated whether currently hospitalised patients continued to experienced violence and abuse. This was an exploratory naturalistic study in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Of the 127 who completed the study, more than 50% reported experiences of abuse. The main perpetrators were other patients, although violence by staff was reported. Reasons for the tardiness of implementation of deinstitutionalisation and the prevalence of ongoing violence and abuse in psychiatric hospitals are complex. Factors inherited from the pre-democratic system coupled with increased urban violence and financial constraints appear to be some of the major causes of ongoing dependency upon hospitalisation of mental health care users. The present study highlighted the urgency of implementing mental health care improvements.

The prevalence of nursing staff stress on adult acute psychiatric in-patient wards. A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Concerns about recent changes in acute in-patient mental health care environments have led to fears about staff stress and poor morale in acute in-patient mental health care staff.

AIM

To review the prevalence of low staff morale, stress, burnout, job satisfaction and psychological well-being amongst staff working in in-patient psychiatric wards.

METHOD

Systematic review.

RESULTS

Of 34 mental health studies identified, 13 were specific to acute in-patient settings, and 21 were specific to other non-specified ward-based samples. Most studies did not find very high levels of staff burnout and poor morale but were mostly small, of poor quality and provided incomplete or non-standardised prevalence data.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of indicators of low morale on acute in-patient mental health wards has been poorly researched and remains unclear. Multi-site, prospective epidemiological studies using validated measures of stress together with personal and organizational variables influencing staff stress in acute in-patient wards are required.

Sources of social support and burnout: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources model

The Conservation of Resources (COR) model of burnout (Hobfoll & Freedy, 1993) suggests that resources are differentially related to burnout dimensions. In this paper, I provide a meta-analysis of the social support and burnout literature, finding that social support, as a resource, did not yield different relationships across the 3 burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment), challenging the COR model. However, when considering the source of the social support (work vs. nonwork) as a moderator, I found that work-related sources of social support, because of their more direct relationship to work demands, were more closely associated with exhaustion than depersonalization or personal accomplishment; the opposite pattern was found with nonwork sources of support. I discuss the implications of this finding in relation to the COR model and suggest future research directions to clarify the relationship between resources and burnout dimensions.

Sense of coherence in a Thai sample

This is the first large epidemiological study of the Sense of Coherence concept carried out in a non-western culture. One adult from each of 456 families living in northern Thailand filled in the Sense of Coherence scale (SOC) and checklists measuring anxiety, depression and self-esteem. The mean value for SOC was comparable with western studies. High SOC was related to high self-esteem and low distress scores in the parents. The same associations were found between parental SOC and the perceived competence and behaviour problems of the children. High SOC acted as a protective factor in high socio-economic stress situations.

Nurses Caring for Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: Their Strengths and Risk of Burnout

This study focused on the relationship between psychofortigenic factors and psychological burnout among nursing staff at institutions where patients with Alzheimer's disease, as well as other conditions, are hospitalized. Psychofortigenesis relates to the term ‘salutogenesis’ and refers to the origin of psychological strengths. It can thus be regarded as the opposite of psychopathogenesis. There is evidence of high levels of burnout among nursing staff in South Africa and thus the question arises as to which psychofortigenic factors would enable them to cope. The study group consisted of 226 South African nurses from 21 institutions involved in the care of Alzheimer's patients. Questionnaires administered to the group included the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Sense of Coherence Scale and the Fortitude Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed negative correlations between burnout and the psychofortigenic factors: Sense of Coherence and Fortitude. These findings have implications for personnel management at institutions caring for sufferers of Alzheimer's disease.