The purpose of this study was to investigate burnout experiences and job satisfaction in nurses and to identify their relationships. This descriptive study was conducted to provide a basic data on strategies to increase job satisfaction and reduce bur...
The purpose of this study was to investigate burnout experiences and job satisfaction in nurses and to identify their relationships. This descriptive study was conducted to provide a basic data on strategies to increase job satisfaction and reduce burnout experiences of nurses by identifying barriers for these variables, which will help to achieve efficient quality management and improve clinical practices for nurses.
Study subjects were 440 registered nurses who were employed at tertiary care hospitals located in Seoul. The data were collected from March 15 to April 30, 2002, and a total of 414 questionnaires were collected and analyzed out of 440 survey questionnaires (returning rate: 94.1%) distributed to potential subjects.
The study instrument consisted of 111 question items that included 10 items of general characteristics (3 items for demographic characteristics, 7 items for nursing job-related characteristics), 80 items of job satisfaction measurement scale developed by Slavitt, et al. (1978) and translated and revised by the investigator, and 21 items of burnout experience measurement scale originally developed by Pines, et al. (1981) and translated by Hong Keun Pyo.
The data were analyzed using SPSS program, in which general characteristics were analyzed with frequency and percentile, and job satisfaction and burnout experiences were analyzed with mean and standard deviation. The relationships between job satisfaction and burnout experiences by general characteristics were analyzed with t-test and ANOVA, and their correlation was examined with Pearson's Correlation Coeffcient.
The study results were as follows:
1. In demographic characteristics, large numbers of the subjects were between 25-29 years of age (39.1%), unmarried (56.8%), and had religion (55.6%). As for job-related characteristics, 45.9% of them had clinical experiences of less than 5 years, 30.7% were working at surgery-related units, and 59.7% had been working at their current units for less than 1-5 years. The most prevalent job position among the subjects was staff nurse (92.5%), and about half of the subject (42.7%) reported having self-responsibilities for household affairs after work. They also reported that they agreed to domestic relocation system within the medical institutions (58.2%), and prevalently reported 'do not know' responses regarding satisfaction for current job task evaluation system (54.1%).
2. The average job satisfaction score was 2.46 out of 4 points, and average scores for sub-domains were 2.88 for knowledge and skills on the specialty, 2.74 for inter-personal relationship, 2.72 for autonomy, 2.45 for task delegation, 2.41 for occupational pride, 2.33 for salary, 2.32 for hospital policy and administration, and 2.32 for amount of task, respectively.
3. The average burnout experience score was 2.22 out of 4 points. The most burnout area was physical burnout as 2.36 point, followed by emotional burnout as 2.18 point and psychological burnout as 2.12 point.
4. In terms of job satisfaction and degree of burnout by general characteristics, there were significant differences in job satisfaction and burnout experiences by current working unit and opinions for current job task evaluation system. However, other variables of general characteristics were not significantly related to job satisfaction. Significant differences were found on burnout experiences by sociodemographic characteristics (age, marital status, religion) and clinical experience, job position, and household responsibilities after work.
5. There was a significant inverse correlation between job satisfaction and burnout experiences of the nurses (r= -.600, P<.05).
The study findings show that burnout experiences and job satisfaction of nurses are correlated each other, and that they are significantly affected by current working unit and opinion for current job task evaluation system, amount of job tasks as well as job skills and compensation of nurses.