User Violence and Nursing Staff Burnout

Abstract

Exposure to patient violence in health staff can lead to the onset of burnout in these workers. The main goal of this investigation is to study how exposure to this kind of violence affects onset of burnout and to appraise the role of job satisfaction as a modulating variable. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out using a self-administered anonymous questionnaire with the nursing staff of all the public hospitals of the Region of Murcia (Spain), obtaining a sample of 1,489 health professionals. From the results obtained, we underline the modulating role of extrinsic job satisfaction in the relationship between nonphysical violence and emotional exhaustion, and the protective effect of job satisfaction on the impact of nonphysical violence and the level of cynicism. No effects of job satisfaction in the relationship between physical violence and burnout were observed. We therefore conclude that experiencing nonphysical aggression has a lower impact on the psychological health of workers who are satisfied with their job, and interventions aimed at increasing these workers’ extrinsic job satisfaction are highly recommended.