Burdens, resources, health and wellbeing of nurses working in general and specialised palliative care in Germany – results of a nationwide cross-sectional survey study

Abstract

Background Palliative care in Germany is divided into general (GPC) and specialised palliative care (SPC). Although palliative care will become more important in the care sector in future, there is a large knowledge gab, especially with regard to GPC. The aim of this study was to identify and compare the burdens, resources, health and wellbeing of nurses working in GPC and SPC. Such information will be helpful for developing prevention programs in order to reduce burdens and to strengthen resources of nurses. Methods In 2017, a nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted. In total, 437 nurses in GPC and 1316 nurses in SPC completed a questionnaire containing parts of standardised instruments, which included parts of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), the Resilience Scale (RS-13) Questionnaire, a single question about back pain from the health survey conducted by the Robert Koch Institute as well as self-developed questions. The differences in the variables between GPC and SPC nurses were compared. Results SPC nurses reported higher emotional demands as well as higher burdens due to nursing care and the care of relatives while GPC nurses stated higher quantitative demands, i.e. higher workload. SPC nurses more often reported organisational and social resources that were helpful in dealing with the demands of their work. Regarding health, GPC nurses stated a poorer health status and reported chronic back pain as well as a major depressive disorder more frequently than SPC nurses. Furthermore, GPC nurses reported a higher intention to leave the profession compared to SPC nurses. Conclusions The findings of the present study indicate that SPC could be reviewed as the best practice example for nursing care in Germany. The results may be used for developing target group specific prevention programs for improving health and wellbeing of nurses taking the differences between GPC and SPC into account. Finally, interventional and longitudinal studies should be conducted in future to determine causality in the relationship of burdens, resources, health and wellbeing.

Psychosocial burden in nurses working in nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study with quantitative and qualitative data

“…Intuitively, intention to leave profession (within past year) is, with 25 of 100 possible points, valued relatively low within our sample. However, it outranges the corresponding mean score of the reference group as well as a large German sample from diverse occupational settings [ 24 ], and is at the upper edge of the spectrum in the German nursing sector [ 40 – 42 ]. Results of the NEXT study showed that, amongst others, higher quantitative demands and more work-privacy conflicts (as observed within our sample) increase intention to leave the profession in nurses [ 29 , 43 ].…”

“…A recent scoping review identified enhanced team relationships and finding meaning in work as important resources to handle ethical challenges during a pandemic [ 48 ]. Both might be sources of resilience, helping nurses deal with the multitude of hardships experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic [ 6 , 40 , 50 ].…”

Self-Efficacy, Job Satisfaction and Teacher Well-Being in the K-12 Educational System

“…The specialized literature on job satisfaction reveals that it is an integral part of any industry or work environment. In the case of health workers, it was found that ethical leadership positively and significantly influences job satisfaction, by: applying ethical principles to problem-solving and equity [ 24 ]; offering training and organizational support [ 25 ] together with management support and resources, despite tendencies to quit the job [ 26 ]; offering psychological support despite difficult working conditions [ 27 ]; prompting risk prevention plans [ 28 ]; offering improved health maintenance programs [ 29 ]. In all the previously mentioned sources, well-being was either positively or negatively affected by management decisions.…”

Loneliness, student engagement, and academic achievement during emergency remote teaching during COVID-19: the role of the God locus of control

“…Interactions created through online channels cannot form effective relational relationships because of the lack of interpersonal connections (Driver, 2018). Loneliness is an effective predictor of mental health and well-being (Diehl et al, 2021;Dinu et al, 2022;Kaufmann and Vallade, 2020;McIntyre-Mills et al, 2018;Wright, 2014), student engagement (Stoliker and Lafreniere, 2015), academic performance (Fan et al, 2021;Singh et al, 2021;Yalçın et al, 2020), lack of sense of community (Reedy, 2019), and dropout intentions (Alkan, 2014). Thus, it is necessary to explore the possible effect of loneliness on student learning experiences (Kaufmann and Vallade, 2020), such as student engagement and academic achievement.…”