Predictors of burnout in female nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Burnout symptoms among physicians and nurses before, during and after COVID-19 care

OBJECTIVE

this study evaluated burnout symptoms among physicians and nurses before, during and after COVID-19 care.

METHOD

a cross-sectional comparative study in the Pulmonary Care unit of a tertiary-level public hospital. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used.

RESULTS

280 surveys were distributed across three periods: before (n=80), during (n=105) and after (n=95) COVID-19 care; 172 surveys were returned. The response rates were 57.5%, 64.8% and 61.1%, respectively. The prevalence of severe burnout was 30.4%, 63.2% and 34.5% before, during and after COVID-19 care (p<0.001). Emotional exhaustion (p<0.001) and depersonalization (p=0.002) symptoms were more prevalent among nurses than among physicians. Severe burnout was more prevalent in women, nurses and night shift staff.

CONCLUSION

the high prevalence of burnout doubled in the first peak of hospital admissions and returned to pre-pandemic levels one month after COVID-19 care ended. Burnout varied by gender, shift and occupation, with nurses among the most vulnerable groups. Focus on early assessment and mitigation strategies are required to support nurses not only during crisis but permanently.

Longitudinal Study of the Mental Health, Resilience, and Post-Traumatic Stress of Senior Nursing Students to Nursing Graduates during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study analyzed changes in the psychological health of students who were in the final year of their nursing degree during the COVID-19 pandemic and later served as nursing professionals in hospitals. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted over two periods of time (the first in April 2020 and the second 6 months later, in December 2020) with 296 students for a T0 baseline (rate response 68.83%) and 92 students for a T1 post-test sample (response rate 31.08%). The data were electronically collected using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Resilience Scale, and a post-traumatic stress questionnaire. The mean age of the sample participants was 24.17 years (SD = 5.51), and 89.11% were female. During the pandemic, 14.11% of students showed scores that indicated depression, and 32.61% showed scores that indicated anxiety. In December 2020, 86.5% of the participants were working as nurses, and the percentages of those with anxiety (12%) and depression (4.3%) were significantly lower than in the first sample period. A total of 20.7% of the participants had post-traumatic stress. High scores for resilience were significantly associated with better quality of life and lower levels of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Conclusions: Although the percentages of participants with anxiety and depression decreased, they still presented with mental health problems.

Moderated Role of Social Support in the Relationship between Job Strain, Burnout, and Organizational Commitment among Operating Room Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Unique environment, coupled with overload, low job control, and high risk might put operating room (OR) nurses in a state of high job strain, which might have negative influences on burnout and organizational commitment. Based on the Job Demand-Control-Support model and previous studies, we hypothesized that the relationship between job strain (determined by job demand and control) and organizational commitment could be mediated by burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization), the effect of job strain on burnout and organizational commitment could be moderated by social support. To verify the hypothesis, a quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted, 509 OR nurses from 30 tertiary hospitals in Beijing were recruited. Multiple-group path analysis was used to test the moderated role of social support. Propensity score matching was applied to match job strain in different groups. Our research found that in the low social support group, job strain was not related to organizational commitment, while in the high social support group, depersonalization was not related to organizational commitment. Furthermore, nurses in the low social support group were more likely to have depersonalization under job strain compared to the high social support group. Social support should be provided to alleviate the negative impact of job strain.