TY - JOUR
T1 - Work context, personal control, and burnout amongst nurses
AU - Allen, Jacqueline
AU - Mellor, David
PY - 2002/12/1
Y1 - 2002/12/1
N2 - While situational factors such as high workloads have been found to be predictive of burnout, not all people in the same work context develop burnout. This suggests that individual factors are implicated in susceptibility to burnout. We investigated the relationships between care type (acute/chronic), neuroticism, control (primary/secondary), and symptoms of burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy) amongst 21 chronic care nurses and 83 acute care nurses working in a public hospital in regional Australia. Similar levels of burnout symptomatology and neuroticism were found in each group of nurses, and neuroticism was found to be associated with exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy in the total sample of nurses. Our prediction that primary control would protect against burnout symptoms in acute care nurses was supported only for professional efficacy, and the prediction that secondary control would protect against burnout in chronic care nurses was not supported.
AB - While situational factors such as high workloads have been found to be predictive of burnout, not all people in the same work context develop burnout. This suggests that individual factors are implicated in susceptibility to burnout. We investigated the relationships between care type (acute/chronic), neuroticism, control (primary/secondary), and symptoms of burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy) amongst 21 chronic care nurses and 83 acute care nurses working in a public hospital in regional Australia. Similar levels of burnout symptomatology and neuroticism were found in each group of nurses, and neuroticism was found to be associated with exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy in the total sample of nurses. Our prediction that primary control would protect against burnout symptoms in acute care nurses was supported only for professional efficacy, and the prediction that secondary control would protect against burnout in chronic care nurses was not supported.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036884165&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/019394502237701
DO - 10.1177/019394502237701
M3 - Article
C2 - 12469726
AN - SCOPUS:0036884165
VL - 24
SP - 905
EP - 917
JO - Western Journal of Nursing Research
JF - Western Journal of Nursing Research
SN - 0193-9459
IS - 8
ER -