Social group membership, burnout, and subjective well-being in new nurses in the life transition period: A cross-sectional study

Identity change and the transition to university: Implications for cortisol awakening response, psychological well-being and academic performance

The social identity model of identity change (SIMIC) posits that social group memberships protect well-being during transitional periods, such as the transition to university, via two pathways - maintaining previously held social group memberships (social identity continuity) and gaining new social group memberships (social identity gain). Breaking new ground, this study investigates how these processes can influence an important biomarker of stress - cortisol awakening response (CAR). A total of 153 first year undergraduate students (69.3% female) completed measures (group memberships, depression, life satisfaction) at the beginning of the academic year (October, time 1; T1), of which 67 provided a saliva sample for CAR assessment. Seventy-nine students completed the time 2 (February, T2) measures 4 months later (41 provided saliva). Academic performance was assessed objectively through end-of-academic year university grade data (June, T3). At T1, students who maintained and gained social group memberships reported lower depressive symptoms and greater life satisfaction. Across the academic year, social identity gain was associated with a larger post-awakening cortisol response at T2, indicative of a better ability to cope with stress. Thus, gaining new social group memberships during the transition to university was associated with a better ability to cope with stress.

A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Study to Evaluate the Online Delivery of Storytelling Through Music With Oncology Nurses

BACKGROUND

Oncology nurses frequently contend with intense work-related emotions stemming from their roles, which include bearing witness to suffering, managing end-of-life care, and navigating ethical dilemmas. These emotional challenges can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, and overall psychological distress.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effect of implementing Storytelling Through Music (STM) online with oncology nurses.

INTERVENTION/METHODS

This study (trial registration: NCT04775524) was a 2-group, randomized wait-list controlled trial, utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods. STM is a 6-week intervention that combines storytelling, reflective writing, songwriting, and psychoeducation. Data were collected in both groups at 3 timepoints and analyzed with descriptive statistics, conventional content analysis, and nonparametric tests.

RESULTS

The oncology nurses (n = 24) were primarily female (96%) and White (79%), with an average of 15.98 (range, 2-51) years of nursing experience. All STM participants completed the intervention and found it acceptable. STM participants had greater improvements in burnout, secondary traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic growth.

CONCLUSION

The online delivery of STM proved feasible and acceptable, demonstrating potential scalability across diverse geographic locations, and showed promise in reducing psychological distress and burnout. Future research should consider larger-scale studies with diverse participant demographics and settings to validate these findings further.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Results highlight the potential value of integrating expressive arts into comprehensive support programs for nurses. By implementing interventions that acknowledge and support the emotional demands of their work, healthcare organizations can better equip oncology nurses to navigate the complexities of their roles while maintaining their well-being.

Mediating role of resilience on burnout to well-being for hospital nursing staff in Northeast China: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

The well-being of nursing staff is closely related to nursing performance and patient safety. It has attracted much attention from nursing managers and researchers. However, the most important influencing factors and their relationships are not fully understood. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing the well-being of nurses and find out the mediating role of resilience of from burnout to well-being of hospital nursing staff.

DESIGN

A descriptive, multicentre cross-sectional study design.

SETTINGS

111 hospitals in Northeast China were randomly selected by the random cluster sampling method.

PARTICIPANTS

An online survey was administered to 11 827 nurses in December 2021, who engaged in clinical, nursing or management work and volunteered to participate.

OUTCOMES MEASURES

The sociodemographic characteristics, general well-being schedule, Maslach burnout inventory and Connor-Davidson resilience scale were used to assess all participants.

RESULTS

There are 15 variables entered into the regression equation, which can jointly predict 57.80% of the variance. There were a number of well-being-related factors identified. The individual factors include age, educational level, exercise, smoke, drinking, general health status, chronic disease, burnout and resilience. The organisational factors include psychological group, participating in psychological group activities, leadership training or communication training, working years, monthly income and night shifts. The results showed that the structural equation model of partial mediating effect of resilience was established. And the partial mediating effect accounted for 16.91% (-0.083/0.488) of the total effect.

CONCLUSIONS

There were a number of well-being-related factors identified, including individual and organisational factors, which provide directions for targeted support and interventions of nurses. It could improve the resilience of hospital nursing staff, reduce burnout and enhance well-being.

The relationship between perceived organizational support and burnout in newly graduated nurses from southwest China: the chain mediating roles of psychological capital and work engagement

BACKGROUND

Burnout affects the quality of work and health, increases the rate of turnover of newly graduated nurses, and leads to a shortage of nurse resources. Perceived organizational support (POS) can mitigate burnout, but the exact mechanism is unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the mediating roles of psychological capital (PsyCap) and work engagement (WE) in the relationship between POS and burnout.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study. An anonymous investigation with a convenience sampling of nurses was conducted in Sichuan province, southwest China between October 2023 and November 2023. The Perceived Organizational Support Scale, Maslach's Burnout Inventory General Survey, the Psychological Capital questionnaire, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were used to collect data. SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0 were applied for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 995 newly graduated nurses participated in this study. The average burnout score of the nurses was 2.45 (1.06) and the incidence of burnout was 82.6%. Burnout was negatively correlated with POS (r=-0.624, p < 0.05), PsyCap (r = -0.685, p < 0.05) and WE (r = -0.638, p < 0.05). The total effect of POS on burnout (β = 0.553) consisted of a direct effect (β = 0.233) as well as an indirect effect (β = 0.320) mediated through PsyCap and WE. PsyCap and WE have a chain-mediated effect between the POS of newly graduated nurses and burnout (β = -0.056, Bootstrap 95% confidence interval (-0.008, -0.003), which represented 10.12% of the total effect.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms that POS has a significant negative predictive effect on burnout. POS was first associated with a decrease in PsyCap, followed by a sequential decline in WE, which in turn was associated with an increase in burnout symptoms among newly graduated nurses. Hospital managers can reduce the levels of burnout of newly graduated nurses by increasing organizational support and improving PsyCap and WE.

The relationship between medical staff burnout and subjective wellbeing: the chain mediating role of psychological capital and perceived social support

Background

Medical staff play a crucial role in delivering healthcare services, especially during epidemics of infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there is a growing issue of burnout and low wellbeing among this group. While it is widely recognized that burnout has a negative impact on subjective wellbeing, the exact relationship between the two is not yet completely understood. The purpose of this study is to explore the chain mediating role of psychological capital and perceived social support between burnout and subjective wellbeing among medical staff.

Methods

Using the convenient sampling method, 604 medical staff were selected for a cross-sectional study. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire that collected demographic information, as well as data from the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey, General Wellbeing Schedule, Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and Perceived Social Support Scale. SPSS 27.0 and SPSS PROCESS macro were used for data analysis.

Results

There was a significant correlation between burnout, psychological capital, perceived social support, and subjective wellbeing (p < 0.01). Burnout not only has a direct negative impact on the subjective wellbeing of medical staff (effect: -0.2045; Bootstrap 95%CI: -0.2506, -0.1583), but also exerts an indirect influence on subjective wellbeing through three pathways: the independent mediating effect of psychological capital (effect: -0.0481; Bootstrap 95%CI: -0.0876, -0.0109), the independent mediating effect of perceived social support (effect: -0.0092; Bootstrap 95%CI: -0.0203, -0.0003), and the chained mediating effect of psychological capital and perceived social support (effect: -0.0092; Bootstrap 95%CI: -0.0183, -0.0019).

Conclusion

High burnout in medical staff can impair the level of psychological capital, leading to diminished perceived social support and ultimately reduced subjective wellbeing. The findings of this study contribute to understanding the potential pathways between burnout and subjective wellbeing and provide preliminary data support for developing strategies to improve the mental health of medical staff.

Nurses' perspectives on professional self-concept and its influencing factors: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Nurses with a strong professional self-concept tend to exhibit a positive mindset and strong work engagement, delivering high-quality patient care. Although numerous quantitative studies have examined the factors impacting professional self-concept, there remains a limited exploration of these factors from the perspective of nurses themselves.

METHODS

This qualitative descriptive study uses the PERMA theory and Social Cognitive Theory as the theoretical framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 nurses from six public hospitals in China. The data were analyzed thematically using a combination of inductive and deductive approaches.

RESULTS

Nurses' understanding of professional self-concept could be divided into four categories: professional identity, competence, care, and knowledge. Factors influencing nurses' professional self-concept were categorized into eight subthemes in three domains: (1) personal factors, including psychological qualities and attitude towards the nursing profession; (2) occupational-related behavioral factors, including role-oriented behavior and knowledge-oriented behavior; and (3) work environment and external factors, including external evaluation and perceptions of nurses, time allocation, nursing work tasks, work atmosphere, school education, and perceived supports.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that, although nurses had different personal experiences, their perceptions of professional self-concept were similar. Nurses' professional self-concept is a multidimensional concept and involves various factors, such as personality, work-related characteristics, environment, and family. To thrive in a nursing career, nurses must discern the factors that can enhance or hinder their professional self-concept. By identifying and adjusting these factors, personalized support and positive interventions can be tailored to meet nurses' specific needs, which ultimately nurtures their professional development.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study was registered on December 14, 2022, in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200066699) as part of our ongoing study.

Latent profiles of nurses' subjective well-being and its association with social support and professional self-concept

AIM

To identify latent profiles of nurses' subjective well-being (SWB) and explore its association with social support and professional self-concept.

DESIGN

This study used an online survey and cross-sectional latent profile analysis design.

METHODS

A total of 1009 nurses from 30 hospitals in Guangdong Province, China, were selected using convenience sampling. An online questionnaire survey comprising the following scales was distributed: Index of Well-Being, Nurses' Professional Self-concept Questionnaire and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Nurses' SWB was examined and categorized into profiles using nine Index of Well-being items as explicit variables and ordinal logistic regression analysis was performed to explore factors related to the distinct categories.

RESULTS

Nurses' SWB was divided into four latent profiles: extremely low, low, moderate and high. Regression analysis showed that social support and professional self-concept influenced SWB. There were statistically significant differences in age, title, working years, social support and professional self-concept among nurses in the different well-being categories. Ordered logistic regression analysis showed that social support and professional self-concept are associated with different SWB profiles.