RELATIONSHIPS AMONG OCCUPATIONAL STRESS, LIFE STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT AND THE BURNOUT EXPERIENCED BY STAFF NURSES WORKING IN DIVERSE HOSPITAL-BASED SPECIALTY AREAS.
Contributors: Loyola University of Chicago.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 248
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose in this correlational-descriptive study was to identify occupational and personal variables which relate to the burnout of nurses. Psychometric methods were used to examine relationships among the independent variables, occupational stress, work setting, life stress, and social support, and the dependent variable, burnout, and to assess differences in the occupational stress, social support, and burnout among staff nurses working in four speciality areas.

Participants included 296 randomly chosen female staff nurses who had graduated from an associate degree, diploma, or baccalaureate program for the preparation of registered nurses and who were working full-time in either the psychiatric-mental health, operating room, intensive care, or medical specialty areas at one of three large Chicago medical center hospitals. The research instruments included the Staff Burnout Scale for Health Professionals (Jones, 1980), the Nursing Stress Scale (Gray-Toft & Anderson, 1981), the Life Experience Survey (Sarason, Johnson, & Siegel, 1978), the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, Lindsey, & Carrieri, 1981), and a Self-Report Questionnaire developed by the researcher. Multiple regression analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and factorial analyses of variance, with a 0.05 level of significance, were the statistical procedures employed.

Intensity of occupational stress, negative life changes, affect or emotional support, the operating room work setting, employment at one of the three hospitals, the psychiatric-mental health work setting, and positive life changes significantly predicted 35% of the variance in burnout. Medical and intensive care nurses experienced significantly more frequency and intensity of occupational stress than did operating room and psychiatric-mental health nurses. Intensive care nurses experienced significantly more affirmation and operating room nurses encountered significantly more aid than did the psychiatric-mental health nurses. There were no significant differences in the burnout experienced by the nurses working in the four speciality areas.

Additional analyses of the data revealed that length of service in nursing, job searches undertaken, absenteeism, tardiness, physical illnesses, and prescription drug use were positively correlated with burnout. The number of hours spent in direct contact with patients was negatively correlated with burnout.

Implications for nursing practice and further research are offered.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-01, Section: B, page: 0127.

Thesis (PH.D.)--LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 1984.

School code: 0112.