HARDINESS: ITS RELATIONSHIP TO HEALTH AND BURNOUT IN UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS.
Contributors: Widener University School Of Nursing.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 126
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: A descriptive correlational design was used to investigate the relationships among hardiness, health, and burnout and to investigate the relationships of the subscales of hardiness to health and to the subscales of burnout in undergraduate nursing students. The theoretical framework for this study was Kobasa's hardiness theory.

The sample consisted of 217 female senior baccalaureate nursing students. Instrumentation included the Hardiness Test, Health Perceptions Questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and a demographic data form. A correlation coefficient of r =.34 $(p<.001)$ was obtained between hardiness and health, indicating that hardiness accounted for 12% of the variance in health. Multiple regression was used to analyze the relationships between the subscales of hardiness and health. Control explained 13% and commitment explained 3% of the variance $(p<.0001)$ in health.

Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationships between total hardiness and the subscales of burnout. Inverse relationships $(p<.001)$ were obtained between hardiness and emotional exhaustion (r = $-$.55, explaining 30% of the variance) and depersonalization (r = $-$.38, explaining 14% of the variance). A positive relationship was obtained between hardiness and personal accomplishment (r =.36, $p<.001),$ indicating that hardiness accounted for 13% of the variance in personal accomplishment. Multiple regression was used to analyze the relationships among the subscales of hardiness and the subscales of burnout. Commitment explained 31% and challenge explained 2% of the variance in emotional exhaustion $(p<.0001).$ The second regression equation revealed that control explained 15% and commitment explained 2% of the variance in depersonalization $(p<.0001).$ Commitment explained 13% of the variance in personal accomplishment $(p<.0001);$ neither control nor challenge entered the third equation.

The results of this study support a theoretical link between hardiness and health; they also support previous research findings which suggest that hardiness provides protection against burnout. The results have tentative implications for the professional and personal development of nursing students.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-09, Section: B, page: 4595.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--WIDENER UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1992.

School code: 0969.