[Job burnout and contributing factors for nurses].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the degree of job burnout and contributing factors for nurses.

METHODS

A total of 495 nurses from three provincial hospitals were randomly selected. The MBI-GS, EPQ-RSC and OSI-R were administered to measure job burnout, personality traits and occupational stress, respectively.

RESULTS

The medical and surgical nurses had significant greater scores of job burnout than others (P < 0.05). The poorer educational background was correlated with lower professional efficacy. The younger nurses had stronger feeling of job burnout. The scores of job burnout changed with different personality traits. The main contributing variables to exhaustion were overload, sense of responsibility, role insufficient and self-care (P < 0.05). The main contributing variables to cynicism were role insufficiency, role boundary, sense of responsibility and self-care (P < 0.05). The main contributing variables to professional inefficacy were role insufficiency, social support and rational/cognitive coping (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Job burnout for nurses can be prevented by reducing or keeping moderate professional duties and responsibility, making clearer job descriptions, promoting leisure activities, and enhancing self-care capabilities.