This research shows that sense of community reduces the effect of job stress on burnout among a sample of 672 New Zealand nurses. Sense of community - a feeling that members matter to one another (and to the group) and a shared faith that members� needs will be met through their commitment to be together - consists of four elements: membership, integration and fulfilment of needs, influence and shared emotional connection. Results indicate that nurses have a moderate to high level of sense of community. Apart from the influence element, subscale reliabilities for the other three elements were acceptably high on the Nurse Sense of Community Index, an instrument that was developed for use in this study.
In relation to occupational stress, the study results indicate that high workload, rather than any difference in the practice requirements of various types of nursing work is the most important factor contributing to nurses� job stress. Public hospital nurses experience significantly higher levels of perceived job stress than their private sector counterparts because high workloads and problems of recruiting and retaining nurses are more typical of the public sector. Nurses who work full-time experience more job stress than those who work part-time, and those in the 20 to 30 age group experience the highest frequency of perceived job stress.
Burnout is a syndrome of high emotional exhaustion and high depersonalisation in the presence of a lack of personal accomplishment. Nurses who work full-time experience significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation than those who work part-time. Accident and emergency nurses have the highest level of burnout and intensive care unit nurses the lowest level of burnout among public hospital nurses.
Overall, the majority of nurses experience a low to moderate degree of burnout. Yet, a substantial proposition of the sample population acknowledge experiencing some aspect of burnout, and as has been found by other nursing studies, a nurse�s age influences burnout levels, with younger nurses experiencing more burnout than older nurses. A clear relationship between an increased frequency of perceived job stress and burnout was identified. Results suggest that nurses with a high level of sense of community have lower frequencies of perceived job stress, experience lower burnout than those with low and moderate levels of sense of community. Findings demonstrate that burnout remains a serious issue for nurses the nursing profession and, as the demands on professional workers increase, the health care sector.
The theoretical and practical implications of the study�s findings for management practice are postulated in the conclusion of this thesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/266468 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Ditzel, Elizabeth Mary, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Management |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Elizabeth Mary Ditzel |
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