Effects of the Violence Experience and Emotional Labor on Burnout among Tertiary Hospital Nurses

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of violence experience and emotional labor on burnout among tertiary hospital nurses. This study is a correlation study that tests the relationship between variables. Methods: Subjects were 127 nurses working at a Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Gyeong-Nam Province and data were collected from August 27 to 31, 2018. The questionnaire included violence experience, emotional labor, and burnout. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation, multiple regression analysis using SPSS Win 21.0. Results: The mean score of verbal violence was 2.21±0.67, that of physical threat was 1.49±0.51, that of physical violence was 1.21±0.21, that of emotional labor was 3.62±0.67, and that of burnout was 3.21±0.60. Burnout has the positive relationship with the emotional labor (r=0.59, <i>p</i><0.001), verbal violence(r=0.50, <i>p</i><0.001), physical threat (r=0.44, <i>p</i>< 0.001); emotional labor has the positive relationship with verbal violence (r=0.40, <i>p</i>< 0.001) and physical threat(r=0.44, <i>p</i>< 0.001). Factors affecting burnout included emotional labor (β=0.44, <i>p</i>< 0.001), verbal violence (β=0.26, <i>p</i>=0.001), and unmarried (β=0.22, <i>p</i>=0.001), with 47.2% explanatory power (F=38.17, <i>p</i><0.001). Conclusions: This study shows that emotional labor and experience of verbal violence are factors that exacerbate burnout in nurses. Therefore, a strategy is needed to reduce emotional labor and exposure to verbal violence.