Job strain, coping, and burnout among Japanese nurses

Abstract

The overall goal of this study was to examine the relationship between burnout and two parameters: job strains and coping styles. The subjects were 568 nurses from a university hospital in Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan. A packet of self-administered questionnaires was distributed to the nurses. Four hundred and forty nurses completed the questionnaires. The Japanese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used to measure burnout. The Japanese MBI is consisted of three factors: Physical Exhaustion, Emotional Exhaustion/Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment. We developed the Nursing Job Stressor Scale (NJSS) to assess perceived job strains. The analysis identified seven major sources of strain. The seven subscales were: conflict with other nursing staffs, nursing role conflict, conflict with physicians/autonomy, dealing with death and dying, qualitative work load, quantitative work load, and conflict with patients. The Japanese version of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) assessed coping styles. The three coping patterns include: Task-oriented coping, Emotion-oriented coping, and Avoidance-oriented coping. Stepwise multiple regression analysis resulted in significant predictors for Physical Exhaustion being quantitative and qualitative work load strains, the strain variables: quantitative work load, conflict with other nursing staffs, and conflict with patients for Emotional Exhaustion/Depersonalization, qualitative work load strain for diminished Personal Accomplishment, nursing role conflict strain for Personal Accomplishment. Emotion-oriented coping style was a significant predictor for Emotional Exhaustion/Depersonalization and diminished Personal Accomplishment, while both Task-oriented and Avoidance-oriented coping styles were significant predictors for Personal Accomplishment