The Effect of Head Nurses’ Empowerment Educational Program on Staff Nurses’ Burnout

Abstract

Background: Empowerment is necessary for the era of competition and service because every organization needs employees who are fast, responsive and independent so they can be competitive through human resources and strengthen the capability and commitment of employees. The lack of empowerment of nurses in hospitals is one of the main causes of nurses’ burnout. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of head nurses’ empowerment educational program on staff nurses’ burnout. Research Design: A quasi-experimental design utilized to achieve the aim of the current study. Study Setting: The study conducted in medical, surgical and critical care units at Benha University Hospital, Egypt .Study sample: were all available head nurses who met the inclusion criteria (65) distributed as the following; 24 of head nurses working at medical units, 19 of head nurses working at surgical units and 22 head nurses working at critical care units. Convenience sample of staff nurses (342) who meet the inclusion criteria from the total number (716) nurses. Tools of data collection: Four tools utilized; namely, empowerment knowledge questionnaire, Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire, Psychological Empowerment Scale and Maslach-Burnout-Inventory-General Survey. Results: There was statistically significant improvement in head nurses' knowledge and level of empowerment after implementation of the program. In addition, there was a statistically significant improvement of staff nurses' level of burnout after implementation of the program. Also, there was a highly statistically significant negative correlation between head nurses’ empowerment level and studied staff nurses' level of burnout post-program (P<0.001). Conclusion: The study concluded that there was a positive effect of the educational program regarding empowerment for head nurses on the burnout of staff nurses. Recommendations: Future studies recommended to investigate the effect of psychological empowerment and employee engagement on other variables such as staff turnover, absenteeism, performance, and safety.