Working Excessively and Burnout Among Nurses in the Context of Sick Leaves

Abstract

Introduction: Nurses are particularly at risk of being affected by professional burnout because of the unique patient-caregiver relationship, which requires strong emotional involvement. Aim: In this study, we decided to examine the mutual correlations of working excessively and burnout-two basic occurrences affecting the mental well-being of employees-and their relationship with sick leave. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among 460 nurses working in 3 hospitals in Poland. The polish version of Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Working Excessively Questionnaire developed by Paluchowski were used to conduct the survey. All the demographic data and data on sick leaves were obtained from surveys in the form of respondents' self-reports. Results: The constructed regression model shows that the tendency to work excessively, as assessed by loss of control over work (LCW), perfectionist work style (PWS), and perceived oppressiveness of the organization (OOP) measures, explains 12.4% of the variation in burnout levels. This confirms that overburden with work can be a factor contributing to the increase in burnout measures. The constructed logistic regression model showed that increase in the level of occupational burnout by 1 point, the chance of nurse having at least three sick leaves per year increases 1.029 times (i.e., by about 2.9%). None of working excessively measures affected the frequency of sick leaves. Conclusion: (1) Excessive workload increases burnout symptoms, which in turn encourages nurses to take sick leave more frequently. (2) The tendency for nurses to overburden themselves with work may be seen by hospital managers as a positive phenomenon, but, based on this study, it is clear that this can only be done in the short term, whereas in the long term it will be clearly detrimental to the organization of hospitals and the quality of care.

Relationship Between Work Engagement, Psychosocial Risks, and Mental Health Among Spanish Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…This phenomenon can be explained by the care overload to which EC nurses are exposed. In fact, in the study by Kowalczuk et al ( 44 ) excessive workload proved to increase fatigue symptoms and the probability of more recurrent absenteeism.…”

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cultural Education Training: Cultural Competence and Cultural Intelligence Development among Nursing Students

“…This was similar to the results obtained with the same CQS but carried out among Iranian nurses, i.e., 88.2 [ 12 ]. As many authors point out, a high level of cultural intelligence increases the ability to act beyond cultural barriers [ 35 , 36 ] and reduces stress among nurses [ 37 ]. Keyvanara et al [ 10 ] draw attention to the need to develop cultural intelligence and effective methods of teaching CQ among students in Iran.…”

Relationships Among Job Burnout, Generativity Concern, and Subjective Well-Being: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…Adults' satisfaction in work and life can extend to a broader range of concerns, such as concern for their own achievements, concern for the growth and well-being of the next generation, caring for others, and caring for the community, i.e., generativity concern (Hofer et al, 2008 ). When job burnout occurs, adults' physiological and psychological resource depletion and work-family balance are disrupted, which negatively affects an individual's subjective well-being and may even produce anxiety and depression (Judge and Bono, 2001 ; Schwarzer and Hallum, 2008 ; Kowalczuk et al, 2020 ), all of which are detrimental to an individual's of productive and creative activities. Adult subjective well-being is closely related to generativity concern, and a decrease in well-being affects an individual's generativity concern, i.e., a decrease in concern, care, and concern for the next generation, others, and society (Serrat et al, 2017 , 2018 ).…”

“…Both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in burnout were significantly correlated with family-work conflict, and excessive family-work conflict significantly reduced an individual's generativity focus (Netemeyer et al, 1996 ). On the one hand, mid-adulthood is an important period in an individual's career development, with heavy workloads that make the individual more prone to burnout (Rothenberger, 2017 ; Tawfik et al, 2018 ; Kowalczuk et al, 2020 ). While on the other hand, mid-adulthood is also a time when the family is faced with a number of issues, whether it be peer development or child rearing, that stretch an already overburdened individual's time and energy (Salvagioni et al, 2017 ).…”