Workplace Social Support as a Mediating Factor in the Association between Occupational Stressors and Job Burnout: A Study in the Taiwanese Nursing Context.

BACKGROUND

Nurses confront high-stress, high-stakes work environments due to evolving disease patterns and growing healthcare needs. The nurse-patient ratio in Taiwan is higher than in other countries, necessitating effective strategies to mitigate nurse burnout and enhance the quality of patient care.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study design was employed.

METHODS

From January to April 2019, 500 nurses were recruited from a medical center in Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan. Participants completed a questionnaire addressing workplace social support, stressors faced by nurses, and job burnout. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, -test evaluations, Pearson's correlation analyses, and a structural equation model with maximum likelihood estimation.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that a portion of nurses experienced high rates of personal burnout (7.20%), work-related burnout (5.00%), and client-related burnout (4.80%). The relationships among workplace social support, nurses' stressors, and job burnout were all substantial, exhibiting correlation coefficients ranging from -0.318 to 0.828. The direct effect of nurse stress on job burnout was 0.551, comprising 90.7% of the cumulative effect. In contrast, the indirect effect of nurse stress on job burnout, considering workplace social support, amounted to 9.3% of the total effect, with a value of 0.056.

CONCLUSIONS

The study underscored the importance of addressing job burnout among nurses in Taiwan. Workplace social support may function as a mediating factor in the relationship between nurses' stressors and job burnout. . The results suggest that healthcare administrators should prioritize workplace social support initiatives. These efforts could help identify and address nurses' stressors, promote work-life balance, and reduce nurse-patient ratios and work overload.