Abstract
This study aimed to explore the potential moderating effect of mindfulness and its facets on the relationships among perceived stress and mental health outcomes (burnout, depression, anxiety, and subjective well-being) among Chinese intensive care nurses. A total of 500 Chinese intensive care nurses completed self-report measures of mindfulness, burnout syndromes, perceived stress, depression, anxiety, and subjective well-being. Correlation and hierarchical multiple regressions were applied for data analysis. Mindfulness moderated the effects of perceived stress on emotional exhaustion (the core component of burnout syndrome), depression, anxiety, positive affect, and negative affect but not on the other two dimensions of burnout and life satisfaction. Further analyses indicated that the ability to act with awareness was particularly crucial in improving the effects of perceived stress on depression. These results further broaden our understanding of the relationships between perceived stress and burnout, depression, anxiety, and subjective well-being by demonstrating that mindfulness may serve as a protective factor that alleviates or eliminates the negative effects of perceived stress on depression, anxiety, burnout syndrome, and subjective well-being and may instigate further research into targeted mindfulness interventions for Chinese intensive care nurses.
Highlights
The intensive care unit (ICU) is a fast-paced, demanding, and tension-charged environment
Observation was significantly positively correlated with DP, personal achievement, and depression; nonjudgment was significantly negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion (EE), DP, personal achievement, and depression; and nonreactivity was significantly positively correlated with DP and personal achievement
This study found that the prevalence of psychological disorders such as burnout syndrome, anxiety, and depressive symptoms is common in Chinese ICU nurses, which is consistent with the previous studies [10, 18], and there was a higher prevalence of job-related burnout syndrome among ICU nurses than among general medical/surgical nurses [10]
Summary
The intensive care unit (ICU) is a fast-paced, demanding, and tension-charged environment. The most commonly explored outcome of high-level workrelated stress in health care providers is burnout syndrome [7, 8]. Burnout is often described as a three-dimensional syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and lack of personal accomplishment (PA) [12], which are experienced by 73%, 48%, and 60% of critical care nurses, respectively [10]. Triggers of stress that are different from those experienced in other units include high patient mortality and morbidity, a challenging work environment, and frequent encounters with the critical and traumatic events mentioned above
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