DEVELOPMENT OF A PREDICTIVE MODEL AND MEASURE OF OCCUPATIONAL BURNOUT IN THE NURSING PROFESSION.
Contributors: University of Wisconsin--Madison.
Published: 1983
Number of pages: 197
Subjects: Psychology, Clinical.
Description: Occupational burnout frequently occurs among first and second year registered nurses. However, little is known about the factors which promote burnout in this population. An epidemiological model of burnout is developed and empirically tested on 63 first year and 76 second year nurses from seven Midwestern hospitals. A longitudinal research design lasting 12 months was used to examine the ability of four predictor variables to indicate proneness to Burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Occupational Expectations, an instrument designed to assess idealism and pessimism regarding one's future occupational situation/environment, is presented as the primary predictor variable. Expectation Patterns were developed to predict nurses prone to burnout given initial Occupational Expectation level as well as the slope of expectations scores across time. Contrary to widely held notions, nurses with high initial Occupational Expectations had significantly lower burnout than all other nurses. The Expectation Patterns identified nurses who had significantly higher levels of burnout at the end of the study than all other nurses. The Expectation Patterns when combined with the three other predictor variables (high stressful life events, low social support, and high desirability/difficulty of leaving one's job) also identified those nurses who had significantly higher burnout than all other nurses. The three initial predictor variables when examined as a group also indicated nurses who had significantly higher burnout one year later. However, Expectation Patterns account for more of the explained variance of burnout than the three additional predictor variables.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, Section: B, page: 1595.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON, 1983.

School code: 0262.