Background
Methods
Study design
Questionnaire
Measure | Concstruct | Variable | # of items | Example and interpretation |
---|---|---|---|---|
COPSOQ | ||||
workload | scale ‘quantitative demands’ | 4 | Do you have to work very fast? | |
health | scale ‘self-rated health’ | 1 | Your state of health: If you evaluate the best conceivable state of health at 10 points and the worst at 0 points: How many points do you then give to your present state of health? Please put a cross by the corresponding number. | |
scale ‘burnout’ | 6 | How often do you feel emotionally exhausted? | ||
intention to leave the profession | scale ‘intention to leave the profession’ | 1 | How often in the course of the past year have you thought about giving up your profession? | |
response categories: never, a few times a month, once or twice a week, three to five times a week and every day; for the logistic regression analysis the “intent to leave the nursing profession” variable was dichotomized: ‘never’ vs. ‘at least one time’ (a few times a month, once or twice a week, three to five times a week, every day) | ||||
resources | ||||
scale ‘influence at work’ | 4 | Do you have any influence on what you do at work? | ||
scale ‘degree of freedom at work’ | 4 | Can you decide when to take a break? | ||
scale ‘possibilities for development’ | 4 | Do you have the possibility of learning new things through your work? | ||
scale ‘meaning of work’ | 3 | Do you feel that the work you do is important? | ||
scale ‘workplace commitment’ | 4 | Do you enjoy telling others about your place of work? | ||
Resilience questionnaire RS-13 | ||||
resilience | resilience | 13 | I can accept it when not all people like me. | |
total score range from 13 to 91, low resilience, score 67–72: moderate resilience, score 73–91: high resilience | ||||
Pilot study | ||||
single question | meaningfulness of work | 1 | How much do the following help you to handle the workload? | |
Not helpful, little helpful, quite helpful, very helpful | ||||
single questions | meeting the relatives after death of patients, family, friends, professional attitude/dissociation, positive thinking, hobbies, self-reflection, self-care, physical activity, religiosity/spirituality | 1 question for each variable | How much do the following help you to handle the workload? | |
Not helpful, little helpful, quite helpful, very helpful | ||||
single questions | recognition from supervisor, recognition from patients and relatives, recognition from colleagues, recognition through social context, recognition through salary, good working team, help and support from colleagues in emergencies | 1 question for each variable | Do you receive recognition for your work from …? | |
Do not agree at all, rather disagree, somewhat agree, fully agree |
Statistical analysis
1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | 5. | 6. | 7. | 8. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
independent variable | ||||||||
1. quantitative demands | 1 | |||||||
dependent variables | ||||||||
2. burnout | .442** | 1 | ||||||
3. self-rated health | −.283** | −.554** | 1 | |||||
resources | ||||||||
4. workplace commitment | −.084** | −.119** | .090** | 1 | ||||
5. degree of freedom | −.329** | −.248** | .185** | .165** | 1 | |||
6. possibilities for development | −.044 | −.151** | .150** | .287** | .303** | 1 | ||
7. influence at work | −.211** | −.215** | .131** | .219** | .544** | .398** | 1 | |
8. meaning of work | −.224** | −.257** | .212** | .411** | .236** | .534** | .275** | 1 |
Results
Descriptive analyses
Variable | Number | Percent | |
---|---|---|---|
sex | male | 163 | 12.7 |
female | 1119 | 87.3 | |
age | ≤ 39 years | 342 | 26.5 |
40–49 years | 366 | 28.4 | |
≥ 50 years | 582 | 45.1 | |
marital status | single | 316 | 24.8 |
married | 722 | 56.8 | |
divorced | 207 | 16.3 | |
widowed | 27 | 2.1 | |
children in household | no | 708 | 55.5 |
yes | 567 | 44.5 | |
education | without a school-leaving qualification/ secondary school leaving certificate/ other qualification | 72 | 5.6 |
intermediate school-leaving certificate | 674 | 52.5 | |
qualification for university entrance | 538 | 41.9 | |
grade | nursing assistant/ in training | 221 | 17.2 |
geriatric nurse | 136 | 10.6 | |
nurse | 835 | 64.8 | |
university graduate | 96 | 7.5 | |
working area | SAPV | 337 | 25.6 |
hospice | 538 | 40.9 | |
palliative unit | 441 | 33.5 | |
duration of nursing activities | 0–15 years | 401 | 30.5 |
16–30 years | 616 | 47.4 | |
31–50 years | 283 | 21.8 | |
exercise of nursing proceduresa | no | 233 | 17.9 |
yes | 1071 | 82.1 | |
extent of employment | full-time job | 575 | 44.4 |
≥ 76% | 183 | 14.1 | |
51–75% | 316 | 24.4 | |
≤ 50% | 221 | 17.1 | |
fund | publicly-owned | 338 | 26.4 |
private | 209 | 16.4 | |
independent | 731 | 57.2 |
Variable | number of items | Cronbach’s α | n | M (SD)a |
---|---|---|---|---|
quantitative demands | 4 | 0.798 | 1313 | 42.67 (18.47) |
self-rated health | 1 | – | 1303 | 72.86 (16.94) |
burnout | 6 | 0.907 | 1311 | 41.43 (17.61) |
intention to leave the profession | 1 | – | 1311 | 12.87 (19.21) |
influence at work | 4 | 0.728 | 1293 | 48.97 (19.86) |
degree of freedom at work | 4 | 0.687 | 1291 | 52.72 (20.46) |
possibilities for development | 4 | 0.704 | 1297 | 76.22 (14.98) |
meaning of work | 3 | 0.827 | 1296 | 88.32 (13.34) |
workplace commitment | 4 | 0.711 | 1295 | 60.79 (18.72) |