Mariano García-Izquierdo

The relationship between psychosocial job stress and burnout in emergency departments: An exploratory study

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and predictive power of various psychosocial job stressors for the 3 dimensions of burnout in emergency departments. METHODS This study was structured as a cross-sectional design, with a questionnaire as the tool. The data were gathered using an anonymous questionnaire in 3 hospitals in Spain. The sample consisted of 191 emergency departments. Burnout was evaluated by the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the job stressors by the Nursing Stress Scale. FINDINGS The Burnout Model in this study consisted of 3 dimensions: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy. The model that predicted the emotional exhaustion dimension was formed by 2 variables: Excessive workload and lack of emotional support. These 2 variables explained 19.4% of variance in emotional exhaustion. Cynicism had 4 predictors that explained 25.8% of variance: Interpersonal conflicts, lack of social support, excessive workload, and type of contract. Finally, variability in reduced professional efficacy was predicted by 3 variables: Interpersonal conflicts, lack of social support, and the type of shift worked, which explained 10.4% of variance. DISCUSSION From the point of view of nurse leaders, organizational interventions, and the management of human resources, this analysis of the principal causes of burnout is particularly useful to select, prioritize, and implement preventive measures that will improve the quality of care offered to patients and the well-being of personnel.

Patients' aggressive behaviours towards nurses: development and psychometric properties of the hospital aggressive behaviour scale‐ users

AIM This article is to report the development and psychometric testing of the Hospital Aggressive Behaviour Scale - Users. BACKGROUND Workplace violence is present in many work spheres, but in the healthcare sector, nurses in particular are at more risk due to the close contact they maintain with users and clients and the special characteristics of this relationship. DESIGN Using qualitative and quantitative methodology, an instrument was applied to a sample of 1,489 nurses from 11 public hospitals. Data collection was carried out in 2010 and 2011. RESULTS Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 10-item instrument distributed in two factors (non-physical violence and physical violence), which was validated by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Both the resulting questionnaire and the factors identified present high internal consistency and adequate external validity, analysed by means of statistically significant correlations between the Hospital Aggressive Behaviour Scale and job satisfaction, burnout components, and psychological well-being. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that, in nursing personnel, higher exposure to user violence leads to lower job satisfaction, more emotional exhaustion and more cynicism, and to a lower level of psychological well-being. The instrument developed in this study may be very useful in the sphere of assessment and prevention of psychosocial risks for the early detection of the problem of user violence in its two facets.

Los Big Five y el Efecto Moderador de la Resistencia en el Agotamiento Emocional

Resumen es: El objetivo del presente estudio es analizar las relaciones entre los Big Five y la resistencia con el agotamiento emocional en una muestra multiocupacio...

Applying Information Theory to Small Groups Assessment: Emotions and Well-being at Work

This paper explores and analyzes the relations between emotions and well-being in a sample of aviation personnel, passenger crew (flight attendants). There is an increasing interest in studying the influence of emotions and its role as psychosocial factors in the work environment as they are able to act as facilitators or shock absorbers. The contrast of the theoretical models by using traditional parametric techniques requires a large sample size to the efficient estimation of the coefficients that quantify the relations between variables. Since the available sample that we have is small, the most common size in European enterprises, we used the maximum entropy principle to explore the emotions that are involved in the psychosocial risks. The analyses show that this method takes advantage of the limited information available and guarantee an optimal estimation, the results of which are coherent with theoretical models and numerous empirical researches about emotions and well-being.

An exploratory study of the relationship between resilience, academic burnout and psychological health in nursing students

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between resilience, academic burnout and psychological health in a sample of nursing students. Method/Design: A descriptive and cross-sectional design was applied, with questionnaires as tools. Participants: The convenience sample consisted of 113 nursing students in their final academic year, who voluntarily participated in the study. Results: The results indicated a statistically significant relationship between resilience and both emotional exhaustion (r = −.55; p < .01) and psychological health (r = −.62; p < .01), as well as between all three dimensions of burnout and psychological health. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that high scores for resilience and low scores for emotional exhaustion predict better perceived psychological health [F(2.96) = 17.75; p < .001]. Conclusions: Resilience was associated with lower levels of psychological discomfort and academic burnout. These findings highlight the importance of developing resilience and integrating it as an element in the nursing educational programme.

The moderating role of resilience in the relationship between academic burnout and the perception of psychological health in nursing students

The objective of this study was to analyse the role of resilience in the dimensions of academic burnout syndrome and psychological health in a sample of nursing students. A battery of questionnaires was administered to 218 nursing students, all of whom were in the second year of their degree at the University of Murcia (Spain). The applied protocol used the CD-RISC 10 scale for the measurement of resilience, the burnout scale MBI, and the GHQ-12 questionnaire to assess psychological health. The findings showed a significant relationship between resilience and burnout, emotional exhaustion and self-efficacy, as well as with psychological health. Moreover, three burnout dimensions were found to be significantly linked to psychological health in the way we had predicted. A stepwise regression analysis indicated the moderating role of resilience on psychological health in emotionally exhausting situations. We conclude that the psychological characteristic resilience moderated the effect of emotional exhaustion on the psychological health of the students. The practical implications of the results are discussed in order to introduce measures for the proper training of nursing students for professional practice; we also make several suggestions for future research in this field.

Grado de efecto de las variables sociodemográficas, laborales, organizativas y del entorno en la duración de la incapacidad temporal por contingencias comunes en España

OBJECTIVES This study examines the relationship, and relevance of the effect between the duration of the cases of temporary sick leave, as an indicator of absenteeism, and several characteristics (sociodemographic, labor, organizational and the environment) of workers covered by the Social Security System in Spain. METHOD A retrospective analysis was conducted on 598,988 processes, between 15 and 365days. The relationships between length of absence, and several characteristics such as demographic, sociodemographic, occupational, organizational and environment characteristics were determined (using P values). The mean duration for each of the features is described, and the size effect is calculated to estimate the importance of the relationships found. RESULTS There were significant relationships between the duration of temporary sick leave and several demographic characteristics (gender, age, nationality and length of service), occupational (wages, type of contract), organizational (economic sector, activity and size company), the environmental (region, state) characteristics. The age also showed a significant size effect (rxy=.134), especially after age 44. CONCLUSIONS Only age had a significance effect on the duration of work absence, although there was also a relationship with the rest of the demographic, occupational and work environment characteristics. There was also evidence of a cross-effects between the variables, which could cause errors in interpreting the results.

Resilience as a Moderator of Psychological Health in Situations of Chronic Stress (Burnout) in a Sample of Hospital Nurses

OBJECTIVES To analyze the role played by resilience in the dimensions that constitute burnout syndrome and, through that, the psychological health of a sample of nurses working at hospital centers. METHODS Cross-sectional design, with a questionnaire as the tool. The sample consisted of 537 nurses from three public hospitals in Murcia, Spain. The questionnaire contained measures of the following variables: resilience, the three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy), and general psychological health, as well as sociodemographic and employment information. RESULTS The emotional exhaustion and cynicism dimensions of burnout were significantly linked to psychological health in the manner expected, but this was not the case for professional efficacy. A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed the moderating role of resilience on the emotional exhaustion and cynicism dimensions, as well as on psychological health. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE This study highlights the moderating role of resilience on burnout and psychological health. The practical implications of the results are discussed for the implementation of measures to increase resilience as a personal resource in order to improve the health and work performance of these professionals.

Evaluación del Capital Psicológico en trabajadores españoles: diseño y estructura empírica del cuestionario OREA

Psychological capital is a higher-order construct comprised by four components (optimism, resilience, hope and self-efficacy) that includes the development of those skills that have a direct impact on the outcome of different organizational variables. The objective of this study is the design of a questionnaire to evaluate psychological capital in the workplace. Two samples of workers belonging to companies of various socio- economic sectors of the Region of Murcia were used (N = 238; N = 338). In order to the the results of the first sample and according to the results of an analysis factor exploratory, a 12-item questionnaire was prepared, three items for each of the facets of psychological capital, which was called OREA (optimism, resilience, hope and self- efficacy). Next, the questionnaire was applied to the second sample and according to the analysis of structural equations, the four-factor model presented very suitable set values (GFI =. 943; CFI =. 936; RMSEA =. 07). It is concluded that the OREA questionnaire presents an empirical structure consistent with the theoretical model, and adequate levels of reliability and validity.