2019 Volume 56 Issue 2 Pages 61-69
This study was a questionnaire survey conducted of 1,075 nurses working in hospitals, to elucidate the reason for their overtime work and to identify factors affecting their mental health. Multilevel structural equation modeling analysis was conducted on nurses nested within wards, and multiple group analysis was performed to test differences among hospitals. The results revealed that overtime work due to workload affected the increase in overtime hours at both the ward and individual levels. At the ward level, overtime work due to workload significantly worsened mental health, while overtime hours had no significant effect on the mental health. At the individual level, the number of overtime hours, and overtime work due to conformity, overtime work due to workload, overtime work for money and reputation, and overtime work for fun of work affected the mental health. The degrees of influence of these factors differed among hospitals. It is important to recognize that not only a reduction in overtime hours improves the mental health, and to promote measures against long working hours in such a way as to reduce excessive workload. In addition, the findings of the survey suggested that measures need to be taken after understanding the influence of the reasons for overtime work on the mental health at each hospital.
