The Mediating Effect of General Self-Efficacy Between Occupational Stress and Negative Emotion Among Psychiatric Nurses

Abstract

The current study investigated occupational stress, anxiety, and depression among psychiatric nurses and explored the intermediary role of general self-efficacy between occupational stress, anxiety, and depression. In November 2020, 171 psychiatric nurses completed a self-report questionnaire. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the four variables and the bootstrap method was used to test the intermediary hypothesis. Results showed that 35.1% of psychiatric nurses had health risk stress. Among participants, detection rates of anxiety and depression were 24% and 46.8%, respectively. There was a positive correlation between occupational stress and anxiety ( r = 0.577, p < 0.05) and depression ( r = 0.653, p < 0.05). There was a negative correlation between general self-efficacy and anxiety ( r = −0.358, p < 0.05) and depression ( r = −0.500, p < 0.05), and general self-efficacy had a significant mediating effect between occupational stress and depression. However, the mediating effect of general self-efficacy on anxiety was not significant. Nurse managers should be aware of the importance of nurses' general self-efficacy and self-confidence. [ Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 61 (3), 33–39.]