Sense of self-growth and burnout in hospital nurses

Abstract

Factors determining the sense of self-growth and burnout among hospital nurses, and its diierences resulting from the number of years of nursing experience were investigated. Nurses working in a general hospital N=284 completed the following questionnaires: Posttraumatic Growth Inventory to assess the sense of self-growth; the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory to assess burnout; the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire to assess stressors and social support; the 15-item Hardiness Scale to assess personality characteristics; the Emotional Labor Inventory for Nurses to assess job characteristics of nurse and the workers stress scale to assess the degree of total experienced stress from life events. An analysis of variance revealed that nurses working for more than 11 years had a high level of the sense of self-growth and a low level of client-related burnout. Multiple regression analysis indicated that factors determining the sense of self-growth and burnout were diierent according to the number of years of the nursing career. ese results suggest that in order to prevent burnout and facilitate psychological growth, it is necessary to develop support programs suited for diierent levels of nursing experience.