Burnout and social support systems among ward nurses.

This study examined the relationships between stress and social support systems in dealing with burnout among medical and surgical ward nurses. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated main effects for amount of and satisfaction with social support, with burnout as the criterion. That is, nurses with high sources of social support and high levels of satisfaction with that support reported less burnout than nurses with few supports and less satisfaction with those supports, regardless of level of work stress. No buffering effects were found for family support. That is, nurses with high work stress and high family support did not experience lower burnout than nurses with high work stress and low family support. Implications of the results are discussed.