Martha E. Horsburgh

Determinants and consequences of burnout: a cross-cultural comparison of Canadian and Jordanian nurses.

We compared the determinants and consequences of burnout for Canadian (N = 586) and Jordanian (N = 263) registered nurses working in a hospital setting. LISREL 7 software was used to perform a path analysis testing hypothesized relationships between job satisfaction dimensions (supervision, hospital identification, kind of work, amount of work, physical work conditions, rewards, and career future) and burnout and intention to quit. For both Canadian and Jordanian nurses, kind of work, amount of work, and career future were important determinants of burnout. Career future and burnout (emotional exhaustion) were associated with intention to quit on the basis of the highly similar results across the two samples, we propose that a universal theoretical model of the determinants and consequences of burnout among nurses may be plausible.

Self-care of well adult Canadians and adult Canadians with end stage renal disease

Empirical support for Orems Self-Care Deficit Theory of Nursing [Orem, D.E., 1995. Nursing: Concepts of practice, 5th. ed. Mosby, Toronto] is accumulating. However, little is known about the relative usefulness of the theory with well and chronically ill adults. This research examined multiple relationships deduced from Orems Theory in 109 well adults and 141 adults with end stage renal disease (ESRD). Relations among personality traits, gender, age, socioeconomic status, self-care agency, and self-care were examined. Qualitative and quantitative differences were evident for the two samples. For example, self-care agency was a stronger predictor of self-care in well adults. Implications for development of disease-specific, mid-range theory are explored.

Part‐time Nurses: The Effect of Work Status Congruency on Job Attitudes

Nous avons mene´ 2 e´tudes (N=204 et N=251) pour examiner comment la congruence de statut au travail (pre´fe´rence pour le travail a` temps partiel par opposition au travail a` temps plein) influence les attitudes vis a` vis de l’emploi et les re´actions aux changements organisationnels des infirmie`res a` temps partiel employe´es dans le cadre d’un hopital. Les re´sultats de l’analyse discriminante ont indique´ un effet important de la congruence de statut au travail pour les deux e´chantillons. Compare´es aux infirmie`res qui ont un statut non congruent (c’est a` dire une pre´fe´rence pour le travail a` temps plein), les infirmie`res qui ont un statut au travail congruent (pre´fe´rence pour le travail a` temps partiel) e´taient plus age´es et plus satisfaites des re´compenses financie`res de leurs emplois. Inversement, les infirmie`res dont le statut au travail e´tait non congruent signalaient une plus grande satisfaction relative au travail qu’elles accomplissaient. Il n’y avait pas de diffe´rence notable quant a` la satisfaction globale de leur emploi, quant a` la recherche d’un coping de fuite et l’intention de changer d’emploi. Enfin, il y avait des diffe´rences entre les deux e´chantillons concernant l’inse´curite´ de l’emploi et l’utilisation de strate´gies visant a` controler la situation, ce qui e´tait probablement due aux changements du syste`me de sante´ relatifs au moment de ces e´tudes. We conducted two studies (N=204 and N=251) to examine how work status congruency (preference to work part-time versus full-time) influences the job attitudes and reactions to organisational restructuring of part-time nurses employed in a hospital setting. The discriminant function analysis results indicated a significant effect for work status congruency for both samples. Compared with nurses with an incongruent work status (i.e. who would have preferred to work full-time), nurses with a congruent work status (i.e. preferred to work part-time) were older and more satisfied with the financial rewards of their jobs. Conversely, nurses with an incongruent work status reported greater satisfaction with the kind of work they were performing. There were no significant differences for overall job satisfaction, escape coping, and turnover intention. Finally, there were differences between the samples for job insecurity and use of control-oriented coping strategies, most likely related to changes in the health-care system at the time of the second study.

The relationship between work status congruency and the job attitudes of full-time and part-time Canadian and Jordanian nurses

This study compared the coping resources, coping strategies and job-related attitudes of full-time and part-time nurses. The participants were 554 Canadian nurses and 272 Jordanian nurses. There was only one significant difference between full-time and part-time nurses: full-time Canadian nurses reported higher emotional exhaustion than part-time Canadian nurses. However, a different picture emerged when work status congruency was taken into account. Canadian nurses working full time but preferring to work part time reported greater dissatisfaction with various aspects of their jobs, higher levels of emotional exhaustion and a greater intention to leave. Although not statistically significant, a similar trend was found for the Jordanian nurses. Perceived organizational support was the most important predictor of job-related attitudes for nurses in both countries, even though nurses in both countries rated the support from their hospitals as relatively low. The results indicate that researchers should not ...

Personality traits and self-care in adults awaiting renal transplant

This article reports the pretransplant findings of the first phase of a three-phase, longitudinal study examining relationships among personality traits and self-care abilities and behaviors of Ontario adults pre-and post-renal transplant. A consortium of Ontario nurse researchers representing three of Ontario’s five renal transplant centers conducted this research. All adults on the cadaver transplant lists of 15 Ontario dialysis centers were invited to participate. One hundred ninety-eight adults awaiting renal transplant were enrolled in the study, representing a 70% response rate. A cross-sectional, correlational design was used for the pretransplant phase. Self-report measures with known psychometric properties were used; validity and reliability of the measures were supported by the sample. Data were analyzed using descriptive approaches, correlational analyses, multiple regression, and path analysis. Relationships were supported among selected personality traits, health state and self-care abilities and behaviors. Further research to examine personality traits and health state in relation to adult self-care is warranted.

A new measure of ‘lay’ care-giver activities

The Lay Care-Giving for Adults Receiving Dialysis (LC-GAD) was developed using qualitative and quantitative approaches to systematically measure the breadth and quantity of caregiver activities. The reliability and validity of these evaluations was tested on a sample of 447 Canadian family members and friends who cared for adults on dialysis. Factor analysis was performed independently assessing two components. The first measured the abstract, cognitive work of care-giving (Think-LC-GAD) which included the subscales of appraisal, advocating, coaching, juggling and routinizing. These five factors explained two-thirds of the total variance of the Think-LC-GAD. The second component measured the concrete tasks of care-giving (Task-LC-GAD) which included providing transportation, performing dialysis, personal hygiene, diet, symptom relief, comfort measures and teaching self-care. These seven factors explained seven-eights of the total variance in the Task-LCGAD. Test-retest reliability of these two components had significant correlation coefficients. The validity of the Think- and Task-LC-GADs showed positive correlations between themselves and the perceived burden of care-giving, the trait of conscientiousness and self-reported self-care abilities.

Reactions of hospital staff nurses to recruitment incentives

In response to the nursing shortage, many hospitals offer sign-on bonuses to attract nurses. There are anecdotal reports that the use of such incentives negatively affects staff nurse morale. The present study is the first to empirically examine the reactions of staff nurses who have not received sign-on bonuses. Most of the 800 surveyed nurses were not opposed to the use of incentives, but almost all were concerned about the potential for negative impact on retention. Compared to nurses working in hospitals that did not offer sign-on bonuses, nurses working in hospitals that offer sign-on bonuses reported higher levels of anger and lower levels of optimism. Greater anger and less optimism were associated with a reduced sense of distributive justice. The less fairly treated nurses felt, the greater likelihood of withdrawal from the hospital. The use of recruitment incentives may result in reduced work effort or loss of experienced nurses, exacerbating the nursing shortage.