The relationship between perceived social support, psychological capital, job burnout, and work engagement in nurses working on the front line of the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019: A cross-sectional study

Pediatric nurses are exposed to occupational stress due to the demanding care of sick children and complex interactions with families. The negative impact on nurse’s physical and mental health, stress can also affect the quality of care. On the other hand, work engagement as a positive mental state and psychological capital as one of the supporting factors can help improve conditions and reduce occupational stress. However, the role of psychological capital in the relationship between occupational stress and work engagement in pediatric nurses needs further research. The aim of this study was to determine the mediating role of psychological capital in the relationship between work engagement and occupational stress in nurses working on pediatric wards. The present study was a predictive correlational study using the path analysis model. The statistical population of this study consisted of 251 pediatric nurses. The sampling was conducted from December 2023 to May 2024. Data collection instruments included the Demographic Profile Form, Chen’s occupational Stress Questionnaire, Schaufeli et al.'s Work Engagement Questionnaire, and Luthans’ Psychological Capital Questionnaire. The data analysis was carried out using the SPSS 26 and AMOS 24 software. The results of this study showed that there was an inverse and significant relationship between work engagement and occupational stress in nurses working in the pediatric ward (p < 0.001, β = −0.22). In addition, a positive and significant relationship was observed between work engagement and psychological capital among nurses (p < 0.001, β = 0.39). The results also showed that there was an inverse and significant relationship between psychological capital and occupational stress (p < 0.001, β = −0.23). The results of the final model represented psychological capital as a mediating variable that explains the relationship between work engagement and occupational stress of nurses. The results of this study showed that higher work engagement leads to a reduction in occupational stress in nurses working in the pediatric ward and that psychological capital acts as a mediating variable in this relationship. Nurses who have higher work engagement and psychological capital, experience less occupational stress. Age and work experience were also related to reduced stress and increased work engagement and psychological capital. It is suggested that hospital managers focus on educational and supportive programs to enhance psychological capital and increase the work engagement of nurses working in pediatric wards to improve the quality of care for children.

Objective: To investigate the situation of work engagement among nurses in tertiary level 1st general hospitals and evaluated potential associations between psychological contract, psychological capital, and work Engagement. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used. 320 nurses from three tertiary level 1st general hospitals in Jinan was included. Data were gathered with Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) , Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and Psychological Contract Questionnaire. Possible predictors of work engagement were analyzed using ANOVA and multivariate linear regression models with SPSS 20.0. Results: A total of 320 questionnaires were enrolled and 282 questionnaires were returned, with a response rate of 88.1%. The total mean (SD) score was 3.79 (0.91) for work engagement, 3.66 (0.72) for psychological contract and 4.39 (0.63) for psychological capital. One-way analysis of variance and post-hoc analysis showed that there was significant difference in work engagement among nurses of different gender (P<0.05) , education level (P<0.05) , department (P<0.01) and professional title (P<0.05) . Pearson correlation analysis showed that psychological contract positively associated with work engagement (r=0.253, P<0.01) and psychological capital (r=0.198, P<0.01) , and psychological capital positively associated with work engagement (r=0.575, P<0.01) . Results of multiple hierarchical regression analysis showed that work department, gender, educational background, professional title, hope, optimism and team obligation predicted work engagement and they accounted for 42.8% of the variance in work engagement. Conclusion: The work engagement of nurses is at a medium level. Work engagement of nurses is influenced by gender, professional title, educational level and department; Both psychological contract and psychological capital of nurses positively correlated with work engagement.

Psychological capital mediates the association between nurses' practice environment and work engagement among Chinese male nurses

Teacher burnout refers to teachers’ inability to cope with work stress smoothly. Previous studies have revealed that job burnout is negatively related to professional identity; however, little is known about the mechanism underlying the relationship between teacher professional identity and job burnout. This study tested the mediating effects of work engagement and psychological capital in the relationship between professional identity and job burnout. A descriptive correlational design was employed. Measures included the Professional Identity Scale, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and Professional Quality of Life Scale. A total of 3147 primary and secondary school teachers in China, of which 2220 were women (70.5%) and 927 were men (29.5%), with an average age of 39 years (SD = 8.74), completed the questionnaire survey. SPSS PROCESS macro (version 21) was used to explore the mediating roles of work engagement and psychological capital in the relationship between professional identity and job burnout. Professional identity, work engagement, and psychological capital significantly negatively affected job burnout. Work engagement and psychological capital, when occurring in parallel or sequentially, partially mediated the relationship between professional identity and job burnout. Job burnout among teachers with high professional identity can be eliminated by increasing work involvement and promoting exercise to improve their psychological capital. These findings provide implications for preventing burnout among teachers in the future.

ObjectiveThis study investigates the influence of structural empowerment and psychological capital on nurse work engagement within the context of rising healthcare demands and nursing staff shortages.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive study involving 778 registered nurses from six tertiary hospitals in Hangzhou, China, was conducted. Data were collected using multiple tools, including a demographic questionnaire, the CWEQ-II (Conditions for Work Effectiveness Questionnaire II), the PCQ (Psychological Capital Questionnaire), and the UWES-9 (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9). SPSS 27.0 was used for Pearson correlation and regression analyses, while structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS was employed to explore relationships among variables. Model fit was evaluated using chi-square, CFI, AGFI, and RMSEA indices.ResultsStructural empowerment and psychological capital were significantly and positively correlated with nurses’ work engagement. Regression analysis indicated that structural empowerment (support, resources, opportunity, and information) and psychological capital (optimism, resilience, self-efficacy, and hope) were significant positive predictors of work engagement (p < 0.01), jointly accounting for 69% of its variance. SEM analysis further revealed that structural empowerment indirectly influenced work engagement through psychological capital, with significant path coefficients (P < 0.001) and a good model fit (χ²/df = 3.727, P = 0.000, RMSEA = 0.059).ConclusionStructural empowerment and psychological capital are crucial factors in enhancing nurse work engagement, effectively supporting nurses’ workplace performance. Management should focus on fostering psychological capital and enhancing structural empowerment to improve care quality and job satisfaction. This study provides empirical evidence for nursing management practice and suggests that future research should explore dynamic relationships among these variables in various populations and settings.

Background &amp; Aims: Psychiatric nurses are critical in caring for patients with mental health problems and many challenging problems. They are also likely to be tired because they have been in risky and stressful conditions for a long time. Thus, it is necessary to control job stress and burnout. This study examined the mediating influence of psychological capital in the relationship between job stress and burnout of psychiatric nurses. Materials and Methods: The research method was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population comprised all psychiatric nurses working in three psychiatric hospitals in Tehran, Iran from 10 August to 15 September 2022. The study selected 170 psychiatric nurses working as samples through convenience sampling. The research tools were Job Stress Questionnaire of Nurses, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ). After completing the questionnaires, Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and multiple regression by IBM SPSS 24.0 program. Results: The findings show a significant correlation between job stress, psychological capital, and burnout. The path coefficient of the direct effect of job stress on job burnout is significant (β=0.524, P&lt;0.001). The path coefficient of the direct effect of psychological capital on job burnout is significant (β=0.551, P&lt;0.05). The bootstrap result for this model was 0.49. The confidence interval’s lower and upper limits were calculated as 0.41 and 0.58, respectively. Conclusion: These findings suggest that psychiatric nurses’ burnout can be decreased by implementing different healthcare programs to increase psychological capital. In general, according to the results of this research, it is suggested that the phenomena of occupational stress and burnout among nurses should be taken seriously. These variables can have destructive effects on the quality of nurses’ therapeutic performance. One of the suggestions that can be made is holding psychological workshops to improve self-efficacy, optimism, hope, flexibility and psychological capital among nurses in general.

Shared Governance and Work Engagement in Emergency Nurses

To examine if there was a curvilinear relationship between emotional labour and work engagement in Chinese nurses. Emotional labour has both positive and negative effects on work engagement, but the curve relationship between the two has not been tested. Correlational design. Multi-stage stratified random sampling was used to recruit samples, and 528 nurses from 5 tertiary first-class general hospitals were recruited in Henan Province. Data were collected by using Hong and Kim's Emotional Labor Scale for nurse and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9. Curve estimation was used to explore the functional model between emotional labour and work engagement. Results were reported according to the STROBE Statement. The three dimensions of emotional labour, 'emotional control effort in profession', 'patient-focused emotional suppression' and 'emotional pretense by norms', had a function relationship of quadratic (R2 =.57, p<.001), quadratic (R2 =.569, p<.001) and cubic (R2 =.238, p<.001), respectively, with work engagement. There was a one-way increasing quadratic function relationship between 'emotional control effort in profession' and work engagement. However, 'patient-focused emotion suppression' and 'emotional pretense by norms' had an inverted U-shaped curve relationship with work engagement. Below the moderate level, 'patient-focused emotion suppression' and 'emotional pretense by norms' were positively related to work engagement. After a certain level, they were negatively related to work engagement. Our results may provide evidences to manage nurses' emotional labour and improve their work engagement. It seems that encouraging or training nurses to learn and master more strategies of emotional control may improve work engagement. Moreover, nursing managers should fully recognise the positive and negative effects of different levels of emotional suppression and emotional pretense on work engagement, so as to develop targeted management strategies.

Goal orientation is a mindset towards the achievement of work-related goals, and it has been found to be related to occupational well-being. This study explored to what extent the 4-dimensional model of goal orientation adds additional variance to the explanation of burnout and work engagement in emergency nurses, after controlling for demographics, job characteristics and organizational variables. Self-report questionnaires including the Leiden Quality of Work Questionnaire for Nurses, Goal Orientation Questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were completed by 170 out of 274 emergency nurses from 13 secondary Belgian hospitals (response rate 62%). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. Goal orientation explained 14 and 13% of the variance in burnout and work engagement respectively. Job control was predictive of both outcomes. Job demands was a predictor of burnout, and social support predicted work engagement. Reward was related to work engagement. The mastery-approach goal orientation was strongly related to an increase in work engagement and to a decrease in burnout. The performance-avoidance goal orientation was strongly related to a decrease in work engagement and to an increase in burnout. The performance-approach and mastery-avoidance goal orientations were not predictive for the two outcome variables. Goal orientation explains additional variance in burnout and work engagement over and above work characteristics and organizational variables. A mastery-approach goal orientation appears to be beneficial while a performance-avoidance goal orientation is not. Hospital management should therefore invest in personal involvement and growth of ER-nurses and in a rewarding organizational culture.

BackgroundPsychological capital can effectively alleviate job burnout and improve career autonomy and job satisfaction. However, there is a lack of research on the mediating role of psychological capital between job burnout and preseneeism in Chinese anesthesia nurses.AimsThe mediating role of psychological capital between job burnout and presenteeism based on constructing structural equation models in anesthesia nurses.MethodsThis study was a cross-sectional study design. From June to July 2024, convenience sampling was used to conduct a questionnaire survey of 568 anesthesia registered nurses in different levels of hospitals in Sichuan Province. The self-designed general information questionnaire, Chinese version of Stanford Invisible Absence Scale (SPS-6), Psychological Capital Scale-Chinese Revised (PCQ) and Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI) were used to investigate the status through the form of questionnaire star. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the interaction among psychological capital, job burnout and presenteeism. AMOS 26.0 software was used to further verify the mediating effect of psychological capital between job burnout and preseneeism, and to construct the corresponding path relationship model.ResultsThe scores of psychological capital, job burnout and preseneeism were 93.31 ± 14.33, 56.35 ± 17.67 and 18.96 ± 4.97, respectively. Job burnout of anesthesia nurses was significantly negatively correlated with psychological capital (r=-0.558, P < 0.01), and was significantly positively correlated with presences (r = 0.465, P < 0.01). Psychological capital was significantly negatively correlated with presences (r=-0.495, P < 0.01). In addition, psychological capital was identified as a partial mediating effect between job burnout and preseneeism in the mediation model, and the mediating effect was 0.279, accounting for 48.18% of the total effect.ConclusionThe job burnout of anesthesia nurses has reached a moderate level, and job burnout can positively predict preseneeism. Psychological capital partially mediates the positive effect of job burnout on preseneeism, and the improvement of its level has a positive effect on reducing job burnout and preseneeism of anesthesia nurses. Therefore, enhancing psychological capital has become an important way to relieve the occupational stress and improve work efficiency of anesthesia nurses.

Objective To understand the relationships between professional identification, psychological capital and job burnout and the mediation effect of psychological capital. Methods A total of 148 clinical nurses in 3A-level hospital in Wei fang City, Shandong hospital were recruited and assessed with general information questionnaire, professional identification scale, Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), and Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS). Results In the job burnout, differences in age, department, education level, marital status and length of employment reached a statistically significant level (F=3.82-10.80, all P<0.05). Job burnout was significantly negatively related to professional identification and psychological capital, respectively (r=-0.37, -0.34, all P<0.01). Professional identification positively predicted psychological capital (β=0.73, P<0.01), whereas psychological capital negatively predicted job burnout (β=-0.55, P<0.01); psychological capital played a mediating role between professional identification and job burnout. Conclusions Professional identification and psychological capital are significant predicting factors of job burnout. Psychological capital fully mediates the relationship between professional identification and job burnout. Key words: Professional identification; Psychological capital; Job burnout; Nurses

Orientation: The development of psychological capital amongst call centre employees could have an impact on positive work-related attitudes and behaviour; such as work engagement and organisational commitment.Research purpose: The purpose of the research was to determine the relationship between psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees; and further, to determine whether psychological capital and work engagement hold predictive value for the organisational commitment of call centre employees.Motivation for the study: There is a gap in research in understanding and enabling positive resource capacities in highly stressful work contexts such as call centres.Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A sample of 106 call centre employees from a South African organisation participated in the research. The measuring instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ).Main findings: Significant positive relationships were found between psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment. The results showed work engagement as being the only significant predictor of organisational commitment.Practical/managerial implications: Call centre employers need to develop and implement workplace interventions that would increase the psychological capital of call centre employees.Contribution/value-add: The research findings will benefit both call centre employees and management. The study highlighted the importance of the role of optimism as a subdimension of psychological capital in developing work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees.

One of the professions that requires high work engagement is a nurse. Psychological capital is one of the factors that can influence a person to feel more attached to the work being done. This study aims to determine whether there is an effect of psychological capital on work engagement of nurses at Pertiwi Hospital Makassar City. The definition of psychological capital in this study uses the theory from Luthans (2007) and work engagement uses the theory from Schaufeli &amp; Bakker (2002). This research was conducted on 71 nurses who worked at Pertiwi Hospital Makassar. The sampling technique used by researchers is cluster random sampling. The data collection tool in this study used a questionnaire in the form of the PsyCap Questionnaire scale to measure psychological capital (PCQ) and the Utrech Work Engagement Scale (UWES) to measure work engagement. Based on research conducted at Pertiwi Makassar Hospital, it can be concluded that psychological capital has a significant positive effect on work engagement, namely high psychological capital will increase work engagement. On the other hand, a low psychological capital will cause a low work engagement.

Work engagement, professional quality of life (ProQOL), and intent to leave (ITL) significantly impact organizational behaviors and outcomes. Understanding the complex interrelationships among nurse work engagement, ProQOL, and ITL is essential for improving nurse retention, job satisfaction, and patient outcomes. In previous investigations, work engagement, ProQOL, and ITL relationships have primarily been analyzed individually. A more integrated approach is needed to gain a comprehensive understanding of these factors in the nursing profession. This study was designed to evaluate the interrelationships among work engagement, ProQOL (compassion satisfaction [CS], burnout, and secondary traumatic stress [STS]), and ITL in nurses using structural equation modeling path analysis. This was a quantitative descriptive study. Data were collected from registered nurses in the United States ( n = 900) using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the ProQOL-5 (CS, burnout, and STS), and a demographics datasheet (including a one-item ITL question). The proposed theoretical model, incorporating major constructs, was tested using structural equation modeling. Level of work engagement in nurses impacts ITL through ProQOL. Among the mediating variables, burnout (0.31) had the largest total effect on ITL, followed by STS (0.12) and CS (-0.12). Burnout and STS were found to correlate with ITL directly, whereas CS was found to correlate with ITL indirectly. Promoting work engagement, addressing burnout and STS, and fostering CS can positively influence nurse retention and job satisfaction, ultimately improving patient care quality. Healthcare leaders and policymakers should implement strategies to enhance nurse engagement, reduce burnout, and cultivate compassion satisfaction to increase nurse retention and improve organizational outcomes.

Objective To explore the relationship among psychological capital, job burnout and job engagement of knowledge workers. Methods According to convenience sampling principle, 727 information enterprise knowledge workers in Beijing were tested by Psychological Capital Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale(UWES), and the impact of psychological capital on job burnout and job engagement with correlation analysis and multivariate stepwise regression analysis were explored. Results The level of each dimension of the knowledge workers psychological capital (self-efficacy (4.72±0.72), hope (4.62±0.77), hardness (4.68±0.72), optimism (4.36±0.55)) were above average. The psychological capital total score and all dimensions were negatively correlated with job burnout, and positively correlated with job engagement. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that, after controlling three demographic statistics variables of gender, age, marital status, psychological capital could predict job burnout negatively, and predict job engagement positively; self-efficacy, hardness and optimism could significantly predict the three dimensions of job burnout, hope could predict reduced personal accomplishment negatively; and self-efficacy could positively predict vigor, dedication and absorption, hardness could positively predict dedication and vigor. Conclusion Psychological capital can reduce the level of job burnout of knowledge workers, and improve their level of job engagement. Key words: Knowledge workers; Psychological capital; Job burnout; Job engagement