Job Stress, and Burnout in Relation to Physical and Mental Health of Nurses in Southern Taiwan

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the job stress and burnout in relation to physical and mental health of nurses in the medical center and the regional hospital, as well as influence of job stress and burnout degree to physical and mental health.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the medical center and the regional hospital in southern Taiwan using a convenience sample of 472 nurses. Data was collected in a structured questionnaire that included: a demographic inventory(personal and work-related characteristics), Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire, Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), and General Health scale (GH). Through SPSS for Windows 19.0 software, descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, chi-square test, one-way ANOVA, t-test, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses were used to analyze the data.

Results: The average score for physical-mental health was 45.69, with the highest mean score in the aspect of anxiety and insomnia(M=14.0), followed by somatic symptoms(M=13.41). This research found physical and mental health to be significantly associated with the effort-reward imbalance(r=0. 383, p<0.001), over-commitment(r=0.443, p<0.001), ant burnout (r=0. 603, p<0.001). Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrate that demographics (including on-job education, unit, marriage, religion, workday per month), over-commitment, effort-reward imbalance, and burnout are predictors toward physical and mental health of nurses in the medical center and the regional hospital. For nurses’ physical-mental health, the independent interpretation variances among predictors are 9.9% by demographic variables, 24.4% by job stress (including 17.9% from over-commitment and 6.5% from effort-reward imbalance) and 12.5% by burnout.

Conclusion: The results of this study provide important strategic suggestions for human resources management and hospital management. It is anticipated to find out evidences of how to support positive and healthy work environment, as well as to develop health promotion strategies for the frontline nursing workers.