Work Stress, Resilience, and Professional Quality of Life Among Nurses Caring for Mass Burn Casualty Patients After Formosa Color Dust Explosion

Abstract

A Dust explosion that injured 499 patients occurred on June 27, 2015 in Taiwan. This tragedy inundated hospitals across northern Taiwan with an unprecedented number of burn patients. It caused extreme pressure and challenges for nurses. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors associated with nurses' work stress, resilience, and professional quality of life in caring for dust exposure patients. A cross-sectional survey data was collected from nurses in caring for dust explosion patients. A total of 83 nurses in burn unit, plastic surgery ward, and reconstructive microsurgery unit returned valid data for analysis. Structured questionnaires included demographic inventory, Nurse Stress Checklist, Connor Davidson Resilience Scale, and Professional Quality of Life Scale version 5. The study results showed that work stress deteriorated the professional quality of life, while resilience was a protective factor. Significant positive relationships were observed between work stress, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Results of hierarchical regression analysis indicated that resilience helps to ease the deterioration effect of secondary traumatic stress. Results confirm the importance of both work stress and resilience in explaining aspects of professional quality of life. More importantly, resilience was shown as a significant variable impacting level of secondary trauma stress. Intervention in promoting resilience should be targeted in order to reduce secondary trauma among nurses after facing disastrous mass causality incidents.

Resilience as a mediator between compassion fatigue, nurses' work outcomes, and quality of care during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In other words, resilience reduced the negative effect of CF on frontline nurses' job satisfaction and turnover intention, confirming its protective role against various mental and psychological consequences of stress-provoking events including disasters and disease outbreaks ( Labrague, 2021 ). This finding accords with previous studies that identified adequate resilience along with work engagement as a strong precursor of decreased CF among frontline nurses ( Cao & Chen, 2020 ; Cho & Jung, 2014 ) across different specializations, including those in critical care units, burn wards, and emergency departments ( Alharbi et al, 2020a , Alharbi et al, 2020b , Alharbi et al, 2020c ; Jo, Na, & Jung, 2020 ; Tseng, Shih, Shen, Ho, & Wu, 2018 ). Similarly, in a study involving medical and emergency health personnel in Italy ( Maiorano et al, 2020 ), personal resources including coping, resilience, and hardiness were found to yield protective effects against the impact of the pandemic by reducing CF levels.…”

Hardiness, Stress and Secondary Trauma in Italian Healthcare and Emergency Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The results presented, in accordance with other studies, reveal how Hardiness Scales are associated negatively with stress scales, particularly with Organizational-Relational, Physical and COVID stress [27,30,[64][65][66][67]. They appear to have a significant effect on both Total Stress and Secondary Trauma, in accordance with what has been found in other studies [23,28,[38][39][40].…”

“…However, it would seem that healthcare and emergency workers increased or gained strength from their commitment, running the risk of a loss of strength and resources and thereby effectively increasing the risk of developing secondary trauma. According to the literature, these subjects may be at risk of developing burnout or mental illnesses in the long term [38][39][40][41].…”

“…Concerning healthcare workers, McKinley et al [37] suggest that resilience may be difficult to conceptualize and that resilience levels in doctors are influenced by demographics, personality, organizational or environmental factors, social support, leisure, having overcome previous adversity and having undergone interventions to improve resilience [4]. Many studies agree in highlighting how resilience is a protective factor against the development of secondary traumatic stress and burnout among human service professionals [38] and in nurses [39][40][41]. Resilient healthcare workers would seem more likely to deal more effectively with stress and trauma [22,42,43] and, also, tend to have more optimism and flexibility, as well as better regulation of emotions [44].…”

Current Status and Influencing Factors of the Quality of Work Life of Nurses in Intensive Care Unit

“…Mainly manifested in: 1) Psychological resilience emphasized the ability of individuals to effectively cope and actively adapt to adverse conditions [14], high professional expectations and fast-paced work environment would make ICU nurses face the risk of high-intensity fatigue and stress-related diseases [21], low psychological resilience may lead to maladaptation, showing mental illness such as anxiety and depression [22]; it was likely to lead to the occurrence of an error event and a reduction in job evaluation; 2) ICU nurses were repeatedly faced with the end of life, prolonging life through artificial support measures, providing end-of-life care, etc., due to lack of reaction time and experience in dealing with similar incidents, it would cause tension, panic and psychological burden. However, psychological resilience can improve the individual's ability to face and adapt to trauma, tragedy, threats or major stressors [23]; 3) The results of Hudgins et al [24] showed that psychological resilience played a vital role in improving nurses' work satisfaction. Low level of psychological resilience can lead to negative factors in nurses' negative coping work.…”