Effect of perceived organizational support on fatigue of Chinese nurses during the covid-19 pandemic: Resilience as a mediator

Abstract

As working for the nurse is believed to be one of the most stressful professions, nurses are particularly at risk of experiencing fatigue. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, fatigue among nurses may affect physical and mental health seriously, which is attracting increasing attention of researchers and clinical practitioners to find effective prevention measures to alleviate nurses’ fatigue. This study aims to investigate the mediational effect of resilience on the relationship between nurses’ perceived organizational support and fatigue. A total of 476 nurses from secondary and above hospitals in Hebei province, China during March and April in 2020, were investigated with Perceived Organizational Support Scale, Resilience Scale and Work Fatigue Inventory. Structural equation modeling was conducted to explore the mechanisms of nurses’ perceived organizational support on fatigue. Results revealed that perceived organizational support can decrease the nurses’ mental/physical/emotional fatigue through the mediating role of resilience. These findings guide for hospital managers to identify effective prevention strategies to alleviate the fatigue of clinical nurses.