Influence of occupational stress and personality traits on job burnout of nurses in psychiatry-specialized hospitals in Wenzhou

Abstract

Objective To explore the influence of occupational stress and personality traits on job burnout of nurses from psychiatry-specialized hospitals and general hospitals in Wenzhou. Methods 110 nurses from psychiatry-specialized hospitals and 103 nurses from general hospitals in Wenzhou were surveyed by questionnaires of Nurses′ Occupational Pressure Source Scale, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Independent-Samples t Test was used for comparison of occupational stress, personality traits and job burnout of the two groups, and multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Total average scores of occupational stress of nurses in psychiatry-specialized hospitals were (2.57±0.37), higher than the those of nurses in general hospitals (2.19±0.42), (t=2.158, P<0.05). Scores of the dimension of emotional stability in EPQ of nurses in psychiatry-specialized hospitals were (54.68±9.04), higher than those of nurses in general hospitals (45.16±10.39), (t=2.184, P<0.05). For nurses in psychiatry-specialized hospitals, scores of emotional exhaustion in MBI were (28.40±5.50), and scores of depersonalization were (10.59±3.31), higher than those of nurses in general hospitals; while scores in dimension of low sense of achievement were (22.16±3.45), lower than those of nurses in general hospitals (t=2.381, 2.330, -7.694; P<0.05). It was revealed in multiple regression analysis that for nurses in psychiatry-specialized hospitals, emotional stability had a positive predictive function on emotional exhaustion; working environment, resources and emotional stability had a positive predictive function on depersonalization; nursing profession and work had a negative predictive function on low sense of achievement; for nurses in general hospitals, patient-caring had a positive predictive function on emotional exhaustion; workload and time allocation had a positive predictive function on depersonalization; patient-caring, emotional stability, workload and time allocation had a negative predictive function on low sense of achievement. Conclusions Degree of job burnout of nurses in psychiatry-specialized hospitals is higher than that of general hospital nurses. The influences of occupational stress and personality traits on job burnout have a synergistic effect. Key words: Nurses; Job burnout; Occupational stress; Personality traits; Psychiatry-specialized hospital; General hospital