Burnout symptoms in forensic psychiatric nurses and their associations with personality, emotional intelligence and client aggression: A cross-sectional study.

Peter De Looff,Petri Embregts,Henk Nijman,Robert Didden

doi:10.1111/jpm.12496

Peter De Looff, Petri Embregts + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12496

Copy DOI

Abstract

Introduction Aggressive behaviour of forensic clients is associated with burnout symptoms in nursing staff. The role of staff characteristics as moderators is unclear. Aim We explored the association between type and severity of aggressive behaviour as experienced by nursing staff and staff's burnout symptoms. In addition, the moderating roles of personality characteristics and emotional intelligence (EI) were studied. Moreover, the usefulness of ambulatory skin conductance assessments in detecting arousal related to burnout symptoms was studied. Method A total of 114 forensic nursing staff members filled out questionnaires and wore an ambulatory device. Results Experiencing physical aggression was positively associated with staff's burnout symptoms. Stress management skills, a subscale of EI, but not personality, moderated this relationship. Skin conductance was not associated with burnout symptoms. Remarkably, the association between aggression and burnout symptoms was highest for staff reporting a higher number of stress management skills. Discussion Longitudinal research is necessary to establish causality between client aggression and staff burnout symptoms. In addition, further research is necessary on the validity of the aggression measure used in the current study. Implication for practice Nursing staff who experience physical aggression frequently should receive social support for this, and staff who report high stress management skills should be monitored more carefully after having been confronted with aggression.

Highlights

Aggressive behaviour of forensic clients is associated with burnout symptoms in nursing staff
As burnout is a possible outcome of chronic job stress, this study investigates the association between the autonomic nervous system and burnout symptoms
The present study investigated the association between clients’ aggression as experienced by nursing staff and burnout symptoms in nursing staff caring for clients with intellectual disabilities in forensic psychiatric hospitals

Summary

Introduction

Aggressive behaviour of forensic clients is associated with burnout symptoms in nursing staff. Burnout is the last stage of a chronic occupational exhaustion process (Schaufeli, 2017) and is characterized by exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy (Leiter, Bakker, & Maslach, 2014) It is described as a stress-related syndrome which can have a major impact on the personal well-being of mental health nurses and quality of psychiatric care (McTiernan & McDonald, 2015; Volpe et al, 2014). Reviews have indicated that both verbal and physical aggressions experienced by nurses are associated with negative psychological outcomes (Edward, Ousey, Warelow, & Lui, 2014; Edward et al, 2016) This association between aggression and negative outcomes has been established with burnout as both physical and other forms of aggression are associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion (Evers, Tomic, & Brouwers, 2001; Gascon et al, 2013) and depersonalization (Leiter et al, 2014). The severity of aggression has been found to be associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion (Hensel et al, 2012)

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion