A longitudinal examination of generic and occupational specific
job demands, and work-related social support associated with burnout among nurses in Sweden
Affiliations: Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical
Neuroscience, Section of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden | Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health
Sciences, Section of Intervention and Implementation Research, Stockholm, Sweden | Mid Sweden University Campus, Department of Social
Sciences, Section of Psychology, Research Group for Behavioral Medicine and
Health Psychology, Östersund, Sweden
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Lisa Sundin, 1321 Euclid Street,
Unit 2, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA. Tel.: +1 310 310 2604; E-mail:
lisasundin@mac.com
Abstract: Objective: Burnout is a familiar problem within nursing. This
longitudinal study was designed to examine the roles that generic and
occupational specific job demands (i.e. "pain and death", "patient and
relative needs", "threats and violence", "professional worries"), and
various work-related sources of support play in association with burnout in a
sample of registered nurses in Sweden. Methods and Participants: A
questionnaire was completed on two different occasions, by the same group of
nurses from three hospitals and two primary health care centers. Nurses with
initial low and moderate scores on emotional exhaustion (n=585) and
depersonalization (n=631) were included in the logistic regression analyses.
Initial scores, as well as four categories examining change over time in the
predictors (unchanged low, improved, impaired, unchanged high), were associated
with burnout approximately one year later. Results: In the multivariate
analyses, quantitative job demands and professional worries were associated
with emotional exhaustion. Poor co-worker support was associated with
depersonalization over time. Conclusion: This study suggests an
association between generic as well as occupational specific job demands and
emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, an association between poor co-worker
support and depersonalization was suggested. Implications of these findings and
recommended directions for future research are discussed.
