Emotional Labor and Its Related Factors in Clinical Nurses

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the emotional labor loading of nurses and its influencing factors. This study is a cross-sectional correlation study, in which convenience sampling is adopted and the subjects are clinical nurses serving in a medical center in Southern Taiwan. This study was conducted by census, in which a total of 750 questionnaires were issued, with the effective recovery rate 79.5%. The structured questionnaire was adopted, with the contents including personal basic data sheet and emotional labor loading scale. The obtained data were analyzed by t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe’s post-hoc test, and Pearson’s product-moment correlation. The results among clinical nurses in the study are as follows: i. The average score of emotional labor loading is 101.8 points (with total score 125 points and score range 50 to 125 points); and ii. in terms of influencing factors of emotional labor loading, service years are significantly correlated with the dimension of “overall emotional labor loading,” and age, having children or not, marital status, service years, position, and service unit are significantly correlated with “basic emotional expression.” Based on the results of the study, the researchers made relevant recommendations for nursing administrators and future research. JEL classification numbers: C83, M15, O31. Keywords: Clinical nurses, Emotional labor.