Effects of Verbal Abuse Experience and Communication Competence on Burnout among Operating Room Nurses

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of verbal abuse experience and communication competence on burnout among operating room nurses. This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study that tests the relationship between variables. Methods: Subjects were 134 operating room nurses working at one tertiary hospital and two general hospitals with more than 400 beds and data were collected from September 27 to October 17, 2022. The questionnaire included verbal abuse experience, communication competence, and burnout. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation, multiple regression analysis using SPSS WIN 27.0. Results: The mean score of verbal abuse experience was 2.03 ± 0.53, that of physician’s was 2.09 ± 0.54, that of nurses’ was 1.95 ± 0.70, that of communication competence was 3.60 ± 0.50, and that of burnout was 3.29 ± 0.78. Burnout has the positive relationship with the verbal abuse experience (r = 0.51, <i>p</i> < 0.001), whereas a negative correlation was observed with communication competence (r = -0.25, <i>p</i> = 0.003). Factors affecting burnout included verbal abuse experience (β = 0.26, <i>p</i> = 0.001), nursing job satisfaction; not satisfied (β = 0.26, <i>p</i> < 0.001), not healthy (β = 0.26, <i>p</i> = 0.009), nursing job satisfaction; moderate (β = 0.22, <i>p</i> = 0.002), and communication competence (β = -0.16, <i>p</i> = 0.027), with 46.1% explanatory power (F = 10.49, <i>p</i> < 0.001). Conclusions: This study shows that verbal abuse experience is factor that exacerbate burnout while communication competence is factor that reduce burnout in nurses. Therefore, a strategy are needed to prevent exposure to verbal abuse violence and improve communication competence.