How does emotional exhaustion influence work stress? Relationships between stressor appraisals, hedonic tone, and fatigue in nurses’ daily tasks: A longitudinal cohort study

Jordi Fernández-Castro*, Fermín Martínez-Zaragoza, Tatiana Rovira, Silvia Edo Izquierdo, Ángel Solanes-Puchol, Beatriz Martín-del-Río, Rosa García-Sierra, Gemma Benavides-Gil, Eduardo Doval

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background Work-related stress is a prevalent condition in the nursing profession, and its influence may vary according to changeable individual and situational factors. It is, therefore, important to investigate the real-time momentary changes in these factors and their relationship to emotional exhaustion experienced by nurses. Objectives We aim to analyse how their perceptions of demand, control, effort and reward change according to the task performed through real-time assessment and interact with the emotional exhaustion level of ward nurses. Design The research design was longitudinal. Method A three-level hierarchical model with a repeated measures design was used to assess the momentary self-reports of 96 hospital ward nurses, completed using a smartphone programmed with random alarms. Results Findings show that demand, effort, and control appraisals depend on the task performed. The task appraised as most demanding, effortful, and controllable was direct care. Reward appraisal depends on the task performed and personal variables, i.e. emotional exhaustion. The situations perceived as more rewarding were rest and direct care. Momentary hedonic tone can be explained by the task performed, demand, reward, emotional exhaustion and by the interaction between emotional exhaustion and demand appraisal. Momentary fatigue can be explained by the task performed, demand, reward, and the emotional exhaustion. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of using momentary measures to understand complex and changeable inter-relationships. While also clarifying the targets of intervention programmes aimed at preventing burnout within the nursing profession.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)43-50
Number of pages8
JournalInternational Journal of Nursing Studies
Volume75
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2017

Keywords

  • Burnout
  • Control
  • Demand
  • Ecological momentary assessment
  • Emotional exhaustion
  • Ward nurses

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